Ted Phillips has held the title of Chicago Bears team president since 1999. It is hard to last 23 years in the same job, much less in the hyper-competitive sport that is football. He deserves credit for accomplishing that. Unfortunately, most would look back on his tenure and see mostly failure. Outside of a brief six years stretch where the Bears made the playoffs three times and reached two NFC championships, it wasn’t an enjoyable experience for fans.
Nobody disputes Phillips did some great financial things for the organization. He also got the ball rolling on a long-overdue new stadium for the Bears. Yet the truth is success in sports is determined by championships. He has zero. Phillips will enter retirement in 2023, knowing he came up short in his most important career goal.
The obvious question is what the McCaskey family will do once he is gone. They will need a new team president. There is no shortage of possibilities. Here are a few names that make sense for them and why.
Several options would make sense as Ted Phillips replacements.
Trace Armstrong (NFL Agent)
If anybody can be called a “favorite” for the job right now, it’s Armstrong. He played for the Bears for several years as a defensive end in the late 1980s and early ’90s. Then he became one of the top power brokers among NFL agents, working with the Bears on several occasions through his clients. He knows the McCaskey family well. He has that unique blend of football and business experience a team president should have. The fact he’s rubbed shoulders with the most influential people in the league only enhances his case. What isn’t clear is whether he’d leave his highly lucrative business as an agent to take the Bears job.
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Cliff Stein (Bears General Counsel)
It isn’t a stretch to think the McCaskeys might prefer to promote somebody inside Halas Hall to the position. Somebody they trust and knows the organization. Stein has been a fixture in their front office for 20 years. He was the head contract negotiator during the Jerry Angelo era and regained that position this year under Ryan Poles. As a former agent, he understands both sides of the table and has built up a strong reputation around the league. His background in both business and law sells his case even further. The question is whether the Bears would want to remove him from a position he’d proven so valuable.
Karen Murphy (Bears Chief Financial Officer)
Keep this in mind. Before he took over as team president, Ted Phillips was the team’s Director of Finance. So it’s quite possible they may want to keep a money expert at the top. If so, then Murphy is a strong candidate. She’s been with the Bears since 1999 and became their CFO in 2002. Before that, she worked for the Walt Disney Company. This woman has excellent business acumen and a stellar reputation inside Halas Hall. She told NFL.com last year that she wants to be a team president. So she thinks she’s ready.
“I want to be a team president. I am grateful to the ownership of the Bears and my boss, because they continue to give me more responsibilities, and they have a lot of trust in me and allow me to take risks. They’ve allowed me to take a critical role on big projects and launch new departments.”
Chad Brinker (Packers Football Administration)
Another one of those football/business hybrids. Brinker started his adult life in pharmaceutical sales before joining Green Bay in 2009. He helped revamp their entire scouting department and has had a big hand in their continued success, both on and off the field. A key point to make with him is he got his MBA from Northwestern. Ted Phillips was a Northwestern grad and Pat Ryan, one of the Bears’ minority owners, is also a member of the college’s board of trustees. Such connections matter a lot in these situations.
Tony Pastoors (Rams Football and Business Administration)
People remain mystified at how the Rams have managed to keep their roster intact despite severe salary cap concerns and constantly balancing many huge contracts. Pastoors is a primary reason. He is both their primary contract negotiator and salary cap specialist. His exploits helped Los Angeles piece together their Super Bowl-winning roster last season, headlined by the arrival of quarterback Matthew Stafford. He’s an Ivy League graduate out of Dartmouth and handled his responsibilities through the team moving from St. Louis to L.A. Most consider the Rams one of the premier organizations in the NFL. He saw how it all came together.
Chris Shea (Chiefs VP of Football Operations)
There is something essential to keep in mind here. Whoever replaces Phillips will have to work directly with Ryan Poles moving forward. It makes sense the Bears would want to ensure that the relationship gets off on the right foot. Maybe the best way to do that is to lure somebody from the organization Poles came from. Shea has almost a quarter century of NFL experience, including coaching, scouting, salary cap management, labor law, NFL legal matters, analytics, and instant replay officiating. The man knows every aspect of the business and understands how to speak the football language. If that weren’t enough, he also worked with assistant GM Ian Cunningham in Philadelphia. There is likely nobody the Bears football brass would trust more than Shea.
I assume that LaMar “Soup” Campbell is not being considered for this position.
Chris Shea would be the ideal replacement for T Phillips based on his experience and his relationship with the current power regime.
Please put a football guy in charge and not someone associated with the McCaskeys or in their organization
Please, no stupid Karen!
No women. They should be in the kitchen and bedroom where they tend to excel.