Ted Phillips Approval Rating: January 2012 Edition

I disapprove of him as a football organizer. He should not have any say in actual football operations outside of budgeting. Let somebody else make those decisions. He sucks at them.

I’m ambivalent about his work as a money manager. He seems to be pretty decent at that, I don’t really know.

Just please, please, PLEASE, hire a Co-President or something like that who actually knows something about football. Do something similar to the Cubs with Crane Kenny and Theo Epstein. One President for Football Operations. One President for Money Management or whatever you want to call it (CFO? I like that term).

The role of any president is to make money. Ted Phillips is very, very solid with numbers. Although he is not a football guy, I am sure he has the skills to choose a good candidate for the GM position.

Letting Kreutz go sucked, but as it turns out it was not such a bad decision. What I disapprove of is the ownership, but that is another question. As a president, Phillips is great.

If Ted Phillips looks at guys with winning teams who have built winning teams, then he will be doing his job and get my ‘approve’ vote. Rick Reiprish with the Saints is by far the best choice out there.

…what team presidents around the NFL do folks think ARE "football people"? Does being the child of an NFL owner automatically make one a football guru??

Jonathan Kraft (Patriots): Harvard MBA, CEO of Kraft Group, former consultant for global management firm, son of the owner. Can’t find any mention of a football career. Son of Robert Kraft.

Jed York (49ers): Former VP and Director of Strategic Planning for the 49ers, former financial analyst, BA in Finance & History from Notre Dame, prestigious high school baseball career. No mention of a football career. Son of the owners, nephew of Ed DeBartolo.

John Mara (Giants): BS in Marketing from Boston College, law degree from Fordham, worked as an attorney until joining the Giants in 1991 as an EVP and COO until his father’s death in 2005. No mention of any football career. Son of Wellington Mara.

Dick Cass (Ravens): Former partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering law firm in Washington DC. Yale Law 1971, played rugby. No mention of any football career. Legal counsel to the Dallas Cowboys and then Washington Redskins on the sale of those teams, before being named Ravens President in 2004.

Art Rooney II: Partner in Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney law firm, 20 years as a lawyer, JD Duquesne, BA History from Pitt, son of Dan Rooney. No mention of any football career (Not to be confused with his uncle Art Rooney Jr, the VP and son of the founder Art Rooney, who helped to build the 1970 Steelers.)

Tom Benson (Saints): I think we all know his story. Purchased the Saints in 1985 after making money in auto dealerships and banks. Won one playoff game in his first 20 years of ownership. No mention of any football career.

The Colts have no team President. Jim Irsay is the Owner and CEO, he’s been with the team since 1982 in the front office. The three VPs are his children Carly, Casey and Kalen. The COO is Pete Ward, who is a lifetime front-office administrator.

Mark Murphy of the Packers is the only team president that I could find among the most successful clubs that had any type of a football career (safety for the Redskins), and even he has an MBA from the American University.

That’s just a quick sample in 10-15 minutes of surfing the web. I would say that the common pattern is for a team president to be a lawyer, financial administrator, owner or family member of the owner, with little or no football experience outside of the front office. Ted Phillips, having been with the Bears for 25 years and having a Masters degree from the Kellogg School seems to fit right into this group.

The reason I’m pointing this out is because I think many Bears fans are barking up the wrong tree by claiming that Phillips isn’t, and can’t be, a successful team President simply because he’s not a "football" person or doesn’t know football. Team presidents are business executives.

Being the son or daughter of an owner doesn’t make one a football guru. If Phillips is a bad businessman or bad executive, it’s because he’s unfit to run the team for reasons other than not being a football person. In evaluating his performance as team president, this is a crucial hair to split. My problem with Ted Phillips is that the Bears are a sleeping giant, an underutilized and under-performing brand in the sports world. But improving their brand image would have little or no effect on the on-the-field performance.

As far as I know, Ted Phillips has made three “football related” decisions in his career as President: First, to hire Jerry Angelo as GM; Second, to fire Jerry Angelo 10 years later; Third, to retain Lovie Smith for one year after Jerry Angelo’s firing. The first decision was pretty damn good, considering the Bears didn’t have a GM for almost 15 years, and Angelo got the Bears to the Super Bowl, acquired Cutler and Peppers, etc. And I don’t disagree with either the 2nd or 3rd decision, although the jury is still out. His next football-related decision is to hire the next GM. Even though the Bears couldn’t get McKenzie nor DeCosta (or they weren’t available), it seems as thought they’re interviewing a good slate of candidates, so I still hold out hope on this decision.