Bears Principal Owner VIRGINIA MCCASKEY controls 80% of the team's stock, but there are those inclined "to pass off her public reserve and low profile ... as evidence she is uninvolved with management of the family franchise," according to a profile by Philip Hersh of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Bears Chair GEORGE MCCASKEY said of his mother, "She strikes an amazing balance between deference to the people she has hired to do the job and being available as a sounding board and a compass to us. She knows the game, and she knows how to read people." He added of her opinion on the current season, which has the Bears third in the NFC North with a 5-9 record, "She likes the progress that she's seen. She, like everyone else here, including [coach JOHN FOX] and [GM RYAN PACE], would like to see more W's. But we're moving forward." Giants President & CEO JOHN MARA said, "She lets George represent the team, but I'm sure she's not shy about giving him her opinion." Former NFL GM ERNIE ACCORSI said of assisting the Bears in their hiring of Fox and Pace last winter, "I didn't have much face to face with Virginia, but she was on top of everything. I always felt her spirit hovering over the whole search. Because of what she and her family mean to both me and the league, I had a feeling of 'Don't screw this up.'" Mara: "She has set such a great example of how owners of professional teams should conduct themselves, with a quiet dignity and a love of their teams. Too many of us have not followed that example." Hersh noted McCaskey "lives by herself in a modest Des Plaines ranch house." While one of her children "tries to accompany her to events whenever possible, she isn't hesitant to drive herself." Despite having had knee and hip replacement surgeries, she "wills herself up the access steps of the Bears' charter aircraft to attend road games." George McCaskey said, "She amazes me on a daily basis" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 12/19).
