COVID-19 and the pandemic’s role in saving jobs at Halas Hall
When Chicago Bears Chairman George McCaskey met the media on Wednesday morning in the team’s season-ending press conference, the first words out of his mouth were about the COVID-19 pandemic.
He spent time offering his support to those impacted by the virus, and saluted essential workers for their efforts over the past year. He then recognized the league and key members of the organization for their hard work to maintain a safe environment, most notably head athletic trainer Andre Tucker, for his role in keeping the facilities clean and ensuring the team was compliant in the league’s protocol.
The pandemic created a surreal football landscape at Soldier Field, one that was devoid of fan attendance, tailgates in the south parking lot, intimate media access and much more. While the football was the same, the atmosphere surrounding it was completely different. It’s probably a significant reason why general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy still have jobs today.
It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has been disastrous for many businesses and individuals over the last 10 months. It’s changed the way we all live and has presented numerous challenges no matter what line of work you’re in. It’s truly nothing to make light of, but when you peel back the curtain, it likely had an impact on this year’s Bears team as they grinded through a unique season.
The new health and safety protocols
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Let’s start with what changed the most for the team itself: the new way of working and practicing inside Halas Hall. Nagy was forced to worry about another opponent each week with COVID-19. From the jump, he stated how serious he was taking this pandemic and stepped up to the challenge of ensuring his team was following proper protocol. Nagy’s efforts yielded positive (or in this case, negative) results as just a handful of players needed to miss a game due to a positive COVID-19 test. Nagy made it his mission to ensure the Bears would not have games postponed because of an outbreak and he accomplished that goal. The third-year coach led by example, never removing his mask on the sidelines and delayed practices if there was even a hint of a positive test. Those efforts did not go unnoticed by management and they saw his leadership in this area as a major success over the course of the season. With other teams losing entire position groups to an outbreak, or needing to postpone a game entirely, the Bears never got close to either of those under Nagy. Wins and losses matter, but we all know McCaskey, along with president and CEO Ted Phillips, like to keep the good guys around who can build a good culture. The way Nagy handled the ever-changing protocols was certainly a feather in his cap in the eyes of ownership.
No fans at Soldier Field
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Ask any Bears player and they will certainly tell you they missed having fans at Soldier Field. The energy of the crowd building up to kickoff, the thunderous applause and jubilation when someone like running back David Montgomery barrels into the endzone, and the off-key singing of “Bear Down, Chicago Bears” following the extra point is second to none. It’s an experience you cannot replicate and is intoxicating when the Bears are winning. But when things go south, 63,000+ boos will rain down on the players after every play. So how do you think the fans would have responded during the six-game losing streak? It could have easily torn this team apart. Players don’t like to be booed when they’re playing in their home stadium. “Boos are definitely not necessary,” said running back Tarik Cohen after the Bears narrowly eeked out a victory back in 2019. “We’re not booing each other, so I don’t understand why if you’re a fan of somebody, how could you boo them when they’re going through hardships?” Safety Eddie Jackson said the same thing after their week one loss to the Green Bay Packers in 2019 as well. “For them to start booing, that’s something we don’t take kindly, we don’t accept, we don’t like,” Jackson told to 670 The Score. “I just want to speak to the fans on that part. All the booing, we need to cut that out. Finally, former guard Kyle Long came out in 2014 when the Bears endured arguably their worst season in recent memory and was not happy with the reception at Soldier Field during after a loss against the Miami Dolphins. “I don’t know if upset is the word I would use,” Long said. “As somebody that is blood, sweat and tears in this locker room like the other guys, the coaches, the trainers, the staff and the equipment guys, to be getting booed at home when you're walking off the field down two possessions is unacceptable.” Long’s response is most notable since that game was the beginning of an epic in-season collapse. The Bears began to fight inside the locker room and the coaching staff could not get it under control, eventually leading to blowout losses and firings at the end of the season. McCaskey himself even acknowledged the frustrated fans during the season, saying, "they have every right to be (upset)." While the booing may not have been the primary catalyst for the fighting in 2014, it certainly was gas on the fire in some ways. Can we confidently say the negative reaction from the crowd would have caused this team to spiral out of control? Maybe not, but player attitudes can change in an instant. Who’s to say Jackson doesn’t let the booing get to him another time after going through similar struggles like in 2019? All it takes is some middle-aged man to yell obscenities towards the Bears bench for tempers to flare. As McCaskey said this week, Nagy deserves credit for guiding the team out of the losing streak, even though he was the man who got them there. If fans were present for those embarrassing losses at home, though, I truly question whether he’s able to do it. That stadium would have erupted the moment quarterback Mitchell Trubisky turned the ball over against the Lions in week 13. Or maybe Soldier Field would have been at half capacity, with many people choosing not to attend the game after suffering through enough losses, making an even louder statement than booing ever could. Chicago Sun Times columnist Rick Morrissey even called for a fan boycott beginning next season to show ownership how fed up everyone is of the lack of change. Make no mistake, the players and coaches missed the fans this year. “The 4th phase” has been a part of some defining wins in this franchise’s history. But the team has to admit it was probably nice not getting booed for weeks in a row following arguably the worst stretch in recent team history. It may have even saved his and Pace’s job when you really think about the events that could have followed.
Limited media access
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Along with the absence of fans was the lack of media coverage following each and every game. Yes, the Bears did hold postgame Zoom conferences with key players speaking to beat reporters, but it wasn’t the same as getting the raw reaction from guys coming right off the field. It also meant nobody got a real glimpse into the team’s locker room or could hear what was said. For all we know, players may have had verbal spats with each other after a bad game and no one was around to report it. Back in 2014, following the same Dolphins game where the Bears were booed off the field, the media reported lots of shouting and fighting inside the locker room where they were waiting for access. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall got into a spat with kicker Robbie Gould and the wheels began to fall off, eventually derailing a once-hopeful season. https://twitter.com/adamjahns/status/523925719488155649 https://twitter.com/adamjahns/status/523939997783564288 https://twitter.com/BradBiggs/status/523943017653100546 To be fair, the 2020 Chicago Bears certainly struggled, but it appears they weren’t nearly as dysfunctional as the team from six years ago. Nagy was able to keep his group of players from revolting, something former head coach Marc Trestman couldn’t do. Still, if there was any discontent among the players and coaches, nobody really would have heard about it anyway. The only issues that were leaked from the locker room were players like wide receivers Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller, and Javon Wims liking tweets saying they should leave Chicago during their losing streak. Things weren't perfect for Nagy and his staff. But because very little information leaked out following games, anything that was a problem was able to be handled and worked on internally, without the media getting involved. If the reporters had their normal access like every other year, that may not have been the case and things could have spiraled even further. Admittedly, much of this is speculation. There’s no proof that the Chicago Bears would have continued to sink into oblivion during their losing streak if the fans were booing and showing their displeasure during the games for everyone to hear. It’s also difficult to say how much the media access this year limited what got leaked from the locker room. As far as the COVID-19 protocols, it certainly added additional responsibilities to everyone’s plate, but we don’t know for certain how much of a role that played in management’s decision to not fire anyone from their job. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic and the ripple effects of the restrictions factored into what happened with the Chicago Bears last year. We’ll never know what this season would have looked like under normal circumstances, but given what McCaskey and Phillips had to say earlier this week, I believe the Bears are looking for a new coach and general manager if the pandemic didn’t exist.
