The Cowboys defeated the Bears 41-28 on Thursday night with "6,293 no-shows" at Soldier Field, and with the Bears sitting at 5-8 (2-4 at home), the number of fans at the team's remaining home games "is important because if nothing else, the McCaskey ownership is sensitive to how disgusted the Bears' following is," according to Mike Imrem of the Chicago DAILY HERALD. The McCaskeys are a "gentle family -- too gentle for professional football -- but even they can be pushed over the edge toward dramatic changes." No business owner "wants to know that the product is so bad that people will refuse to use it even after paying for it." Imrem: "The seats were dark. The future was dark. The present was dark. The mood was dark. Distinguishing whether seats were full or empty was a difficult assignment" (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 12/5). In Chicago, Steve Rosenbloom wrote Thursday's loss was "exactly the type of nationally televised embarrassment you had to root for if you want the inert McCaskeys forced into blowing up this mess." Rosenbloom: "Dear George McCaskey, your franchise is getting clowned from coast-to-coast in almost every spotlight the NFL presents, and you don’t think you need big changes now?" (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 12/4). Also in Chicago, David Haugh writes the only thing "more obvious than the apathy in the city is the incompetence on the field." The debate is "no longer whether the Bears need major changes at Halas Hall but who goes first and when." No Bears coach or exec "should feel safe" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 12/5).
