Bear Digest

How the Bears Could Use HBO's Hard Knocks to Their Advantage

A former NFL executive tells SI's Albert Breer how his team used Hard Knocks to their advantage, although it's debatable how much this approach can help the Bears in their appearance.

Gene Chamberlain

HBO's Hard Knocks cameras are set to invade Halas Hall and there is a wide variety of thought on how it might turn out.
HBO's Hard Knocks cameras are set to invade Halas Hall and there is a wide variety of thought on how it might turn out. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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It's well documented how the Bears greatly opposed letting the world see what goes on behind closed doors at Halas Hall through the lens of HBO's Hard Knocks.

“We feel there are a number of teams that have compelling stories to tell on ‘Hard Knocks,'” McCaskey had said, when asked about his stance on the show. "Thirty-one others."

Then he followed up the next year by saying: “We're told there is some interest in other teams being on the program. And we welcome that interest.”

In Albert Breer's MMQB column for SI.com, one former NFL executive points out how the show might actually be a way to success.

If true, this might explain a lot about why the Bears have had one winning record since 2012.

Former Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum told Breer about what happened when his 2009 team relented and opened the doors.

Breer mentions how Tannenbaum had an attitude toward the show like Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells, which was not much different than McCaskey's.

It was former Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome who convinced Tannenbaum to use this as a good thing. Newsome told Tannenbaum that when the HBO cameras came on, the players would compete even harder.

The Jets went on to make the AFC championship game that year.

"After our experience, I completely agree with (that view)," Tannenbaum told Breer. "It made practices a heck of a lot more competitive.

"That was a massive positive I didn't expect."

Bears coach Matt Eberflus and GM Ryan Poles are always talking about the high character on the team they've assembled.

The show should then enhance and advertise this, if what Tannenbaum says is true or still applicable.

"It allowed for people's authentic personalities to come out," Tannenbaum told Breer. "That team had a ton of characters on it.

"It was a much different experience, much more positive, than I would have expected."

Breer raises a good point and asks whether now there are just too many of these behind-the-scenes situations to affect anything.

He points out how the Bears already have been on "The Pick Is In," looking behind closed doors at theirs and several other first rounds in the draft.

"Are we approaching an all-access tipping point with all these clubs?," Breer asks.

The difference for the Bears is their players haven't actually been on all of these shows and haven't had the exposure that they'll get with this first appearance.

"The Pick Is In," largely just looked at what went on with Poles and quarterback Caleb Williams and his scouts and not the full Bears roster at practices.

The Bears are still a secretive team until those doors do open for Hard Knocks.

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If what Tannenbaum says is true, perhaps the Hard Knocks situation can be of benefit on the field.
However, there are a few considerations before this can be assumed as helpful.

For one, Tannenbaum's Jets were already a team established as rising and had a 9-7 record the previous season. The Bears, at 7-10, like to think they were rising but there is still enough of an element of uncertainty about it to make this a poor comparison. One year improving from 3-14 to 7-10 is helpful but doesn't say they've arrived. In many seasons, the 9-7 record the Jets had would have put them in the playoffs.

The other situation is the real danger this will turn into the Caleb Williams Show and even lead to animosity on the team. Williams is the easy centerpiece for the network and he hasn't done a thing in the NFL yet.

This thought was expressed by rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze in a comment Alyssa Barbieri of BearsWire published.

"I think for me, I'd definitely be more comfortable not having the Hard Knocks in the building just because we're all learning the new offense as rookies,” Odunze said. "Caleb has a lot on his plate already, so learning the offense and growing within the facility and setting a foundation for ourselves."

Odunze thought they'd try to tolerate it.

"But I think it might be a little bit of a distraction for what we’re trying to accomplish," he added.

This is part of what McCaskey feared all along.

Saying the Bears are taking the Tannenbaum/Ozzie Newsome approach to it and thinking of it as a source of motivation is a bit of a stretch.

It's more like they've found a way to tolerate it. Eberflus referred back to his final season as Colts defensive coordinator and how they treated being on Hard Knocks in order to explain it.

"We had a real positive attitude about it," Eberflus said. "We know we had really good people in the building and our message was gonna be, who we are and how we operate. No one changes how they act, no one changes what they do.

"We just focus on our job and they're gonna have special-interest stories that they do, which I think, some of them are really good. And we have a lot of them here in our building, so I'm excited to see that."

That's their story and they're sticking to it. If they can use it like the Jets did that year, they'd be within a game of the Super Bowl.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.