When you’ve been as consistently inferior for as long as the Bears have, any number of reasons for such incompetence arise over the years. One of the most popular rationales for the Bears’ gradual descent into mediocrity has always been that ownership is collectively cheap. Rather than focusing on putting a playing a quality on-field product, the narrative has centered on the Bears’ brass being more concerned with protecting its bottom line than risking losing any profit.
Years ago this rationalization may have been true. But that was almost certainly when the Bears had more self-respect for their place as an organization amongst the greater NFL.