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It’s Time For Virginia Halas

| December 16th, 2009

I could write a response today to Brad Biggs’ Trib column, outlining the number of penalties committed by the most unfocused Chicago Bears team of my lifetime.  I could write how vehemently I agree with Barry Rozner’s Daily Herald column, arguing that firing Ron Turner is essentially placing a band-aid on a corpse.  But while I’ll be staying focused on objective number one, the firing of Lovie Smith, I do not want this space to become redundant.

This is from Mike Mulligan in the Sun-Times:

Who makes the million-dollar decision if Smith has to go? Or is that the $10 million-plus decision? Who decides the fate of general manager Jerry Angelo or Phillips? The Bears can probably change coordinators and cast off some assistants without consultation, but when it comes to ultimate resolution, there’s still one voice that’s heard.
Virginia, Halas’ only daughter, still attends every game, home and away. She maintains an office at Halas Hall, although she doesn’t go to work on a daily or weekly basis. She is her father’s daughter in terms of being physically spry and spirited with a mind like a steel trap. She still addresses all the rookies and new players once a year, giving them her perspective on Bears history and the legacy of her father. She doesn’t let her children attend those meetings.

It is time for Virginia McCaskey to address Bears fans in the great city of Chicago and around the country.  If her true concern is for the health of the organization her father built with his bare hands, then she needs to make that concern public.  She doesn’t need to give a speech to the networks or sit down with Brad Biggs.  She can take a page out of George Steinbrenner’s book and release a missive, as long as that missive includes the words “this level of play will no longer be tolerated.”


In times like these that great ownership is required and Virginia McCaskey is still the owner of the Chicago Bears.  Wayne Huizenga and Arthur Blank did it.  Woody Johnson did it.  That clown in Minnesota did it.  What will Virginia’s legacy be with the Chicago Bears?  The answer today is nothing.  The answer tomorrow can be the ushering in of a new football era that returns the Chicago Bears to the fight and fire that defined her father.  That can’t wait another year.  It really can’t wait another week.  Virginia McCaskey must take her married name, wrap it in brown paper like a dead fish and throw it in the trash.  

Virginia Halas must take over.  Put on the hat, glasses and long dark coat.  Show up at the hall which bears your name like you own the joint.  Because you do.  Now prove it.