(The Score) Paging George McCaskey...
You're wanted in the boardroom, at the negotiating table, on the doorstep to your legacy.
Your presence is necessary to answer one simple question.
What's really important to you, the chairman of the Chicago Bears and grandson of George S. Halas?
Is making more money worth making history?
Chicago can only wonder because McCaskey, who fancies himself a man of the people, has been relatively mute at a time in the stadium project when the Bears need his voice most. It's somewhat surprising too. McCaskey prioritizes relating to fans as much as any billionaire owner could. Whether at Soldier Field or Wrigley Field, around town McCaskey is as quick to pose for a selfie as offer a comeback. I've toured the South Lot with McCaskey before Bears games, seen him trade barbs with tailgaters and once attended a Blackhawks game with him in which he booed officials and high-fived strangers. He's invested emotionally and respects fandom.
And everybody knows how McCaskey feels about the most recent Bears season, the magical one in which they went 11-6 and earned a playoff victory – the first since McCaskey became chairman in 2011. What was your favorite part, George? How good can the future be? Where were you when DJ Moore caught that touchdown pass against the Packers?
Those are the easy questions to answer, the ones McCaskey breezed through at the Super Bowl when asked by WGN-TV about all the joy, all the fun, all the ways the Bears galvanized the franchise and a football city.
But it takes more gumption to publicly declare what matters most to him and his family's franchise amid so much uncertainty. And McCaskey declaring a definite path in the pursuit of a new stadium – Hammond, Ind. or Arlington Heights? – is all that matters now, especially after a clumsy week that culminated with the Bears sending mixed signals to the governors of both states and their loyal fan base.
It's time for McCaskey to make a stadium decision, explain the reasons why and stand by it.
By George, it can't be Bears president Kevin Warren doing all the talking on behalf of the team anymore, wherever he is. Warren came to the Bears in January 2023 with a reputation for being a dynamic leader who got jobs done. Three years later, it's easier to find ways a man hired to smooth out the process of building a new stadium has made it bumpier than necessary.
First, Warren pivoted away from Arlington Heights and the 326 acres the Bears own to flirt with Chicago, misreading the political climate in the city by overestimating Mayor Brandon Johnson's power and underestimating the challenges of building on the lakefront. Then there were the ill-timed open letters full of grandiose language, the worst coming in December days before the Bears' big regular-season game against the Packers when Warren caught people off-guard by publicly broaching the northwest Indiana option.
Lately, all that his lofty rhetoric has accomplished is damage Warren's credibility and whittle away any goodwill accrued during a memorable 2025 season. Reports that ownership is unhappy with Warren, if true, would be the least surprising development of this entire saga given what he was hired to do and where the project stands now.
Confidence in Warren has been compromised, from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who name-checked Warren for not attending a critical meeting last Wednesday, to Bears fans and observers tired of Warren's poor timing and incessant posturing. Now, the next significant statement about the Bears' intentions must come from McCaskey, the chairman who presides over the team that his grandfather founded and mother, Virginia, led for 42 years until her death last year.
I can't imagine Mrs. McCaskey would’ve approved of the head-scratching developments last week, with the Bears toying with the emotions of a reinvigorated fan base. We like to refer to the Bears as a public trust in Chicago and, in many ways, team officials have betrayed that trust in recent days with all the will-they-stay-or-will-they-go shenanigans.
People are fed up and entitled to their frustration, perhaps not enough to start rooting for another team but enough to wonder if these are the same old Bears off the field – if not on it. The Bears' indecision is being interpreted broadly as incompetence, bad for business relationships and the overall brand.
Sure, the quest for leverage has worked, with Indiana on the verge of offering a financial package to the Bears that Illinois is unlikely to top. Yet somehow the Bears woke up Friday morning with officials on both sides of the state line somewhere between peeved and confused, with Indiana wondering why Warren's statement didn't sound more committal and Illinois still trying to figure out why the Bears canceled a statehouse hearing Thursday after making progress 24 hours earlier.
Everyone except the Bears probably can agree this looks like a fiasco, with its mixed messages, broken pledges, wasted time and money. The Bears, their fans and Chicago deserve better than to be strung along any further.
If it's only about the bottom line and getting the best deal for the Bears – which are worth nearly $9 billion – then take the Indiana deal and apply that moneymaking approach to everything, perhaps auctioning off corporate naming rights to Halas Hall for starters. If it's about considering legacies and tradition while still turning a profit, then my sense is the Bears eventually will conclude Arlington Heights.
The Arlington Heights option still gives the Bears what they sought most when they paid nearly $200 million for the land three years ago, a chance to own their own stadium and host whatever big events they want whenever they choose in the football mecca they develop. In many ways, the Bears belong in Illinois as the state's “pride and joy,” like the song says, as tempting as Indiana's offer is. And it most certainly is attractive, the point driven home by Indiana Gov. Mike Braun during what sounded like a victory lap on several national shows.
Indiana most certainly is open for business. But if tax certainty and infrastructure funding remain a legislative possibility in Illinois, as those involved have suggested to me, then the Bears relocating to Arlington Heights, a Chicago suburb, just seems more practical and prudent than moving to Indiana. And this comes from a native Hoosier who has been a northwest Indiana homeowner for the past 20 years.
Meanwhile, Warren issued a familiarly vague statement to Crain's Chicago over the weekend that kept everyone guessing: "We continue to work with Illinois' leadership and appreciate the progress being made."
This approach might've worked for Warren in previous stops at big jobs with the Minnesota Vikings and the Big Ten, but frankly his rhetoric has never seemed emptier here and now. The next words attributed to a Bears official involved in this stadium pursuit need to come from McCaskey. Stand up and be heard, loudly and clearly, answering the only question that really matters at this late stage.
What's really important to you?
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-10 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. He also co-hosts The Chicago Lead and the Big Pro Football Show on weeknights on the Chicago Sports Network. Follow him on X @DavidHaugh.