Michael McCaskey Retires: What This Means To the Chicago Bears

Bears chairman Michael McCaskey will retire after the 2010 season and will be replaced by younger brother George, the team announced today.

Now, the first reaction I had was to yawn. Supposedly, McCaskey was removed from the day-to-day operations of the Bears by Virginia McCaskey years ago.

Still, those of us old enough to remember his contributions to the '85 Bears team's inability to repeat will breathe a sigh of relief.

In the back of our minds, we were always worried about him resuming his role as the Bears buzz-kill and interfering with something he simply doesn't understand.

Um, that would be football, by the way.

Still, the announcement shouldn't be completely dismissed. In fact, a comparison to the situation with the Chicago Blackhawks may be in order.

Everyone figured nothing would change when the old man, Bill Wirtz, died. After all, a Wirtz was a Wirtz, right?

Well, weren't we wrong!

Rocky Wirtz took over and was completely different than his old man.

He put home games on TV and recognized the value of bringing the old stars back to the forefront.

Meanwhile, he had the gumption to bring in the Bowmans to run the team while former Cubs' marketing boss John McDonough handled the team's business.

So, while Virginia is still alive, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that George may be completely different than Michael.

For one, maybe he doesn't like Ted Phillips, Jerry Angelo, and Lovie Smith. Wouldn't that be nice?

Even if that isn't the case, a fresh voice would be welcome for a team that has regressed since its last Super Bowl appearance.

Will it make a difference? Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, I'm throwing a party now that Michael is gone.