Chargers Chair Dean Spanos on Monday addressed fans to mainly discuss Chargers Champions, which has contributed more than $5.2M "toward youth athletic amenities since its inception." But in San Diego, Michael Gehlken notes Spanos did acknowledge that the coming months "are critical at Chargers Park." Spanos: "This is an important season for us for a lot of reasons. I don’t want to put all the focus on the vote on Nov. 8, but even if you didn’t have a (stadium) vote on Nov. 8, it’s still an important season. We were 4-12 last season. That’s unacceptable. Everyone knows it. We made some significant changes, coaching obviously and some significant player changes, too" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 9/7).
NEW DIRECTION: In Chicago, Patrick Finley notes Bears Chair George McCaskey is "confident in the direction of the team despite last year's last-place finish." McCaskey: "It's more a vibe in the building than what you saw on the field last year. Now we need the vibe in the building to translate into results on the field." Since GM Ryan Pace arrived in January '15, he has parted with longtime Bears Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Jared Allen, Matt Forte, Martellus Bennett and Robbie Gould. McCaskey, who is not involved in the Bears' personnel decisions, said such turnover is "not pleasant when it's happening, but you understand it's part of the process" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 9/7).
HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW? The EAST BAY TIMES' Marcus Thompson II writes a lot of people owe Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie an apology, "at least a concession they were wrong about the quiet hand molding the Raiders' roster." Two years ago at this time, it "was unclear" why McKenzie was "still employed" by the team. With him as GM, the team had "regressed from disappointing to embarrassing." Perhaps the most "impressive part about the Raiders' resurgence is that good management is the foundation." This happened because McKenzie "cleaned up the franchise's awful salary cap situation." Thompson: "Because he drafted well. Because he was smart, even if conservative, with the Raiders' wealth of salary cap space" (EAST BAY TIMES, 9/7).
