Cautionary Tale

Because the Bears’ news cycle must be forever fed, sportswriters are noting just how difficult a team rebuild will be on account of the salary cap. GM Ryan Pace can’t seem to help himself. First, he drafts the wrong players. Then, when they fail to develop, he tries to fix the problem with free agents, often overpaying for them. Anyone seen Danny Trevathan lately? The result is a roster filled with expensive mediocrities, which is not exactly the formula for winning football, assuming the McCaskeys care about such a thing. Today, I read in The Athletic how both sides in the baseball lockout aren’t expected to meet again until after the holidays. I imagine the owners are dreaming of ways to sneak a salary cap into any final agreement. Consider what that would mean for fans. They could either watch their team screw up like the Bears or listen to their owner site the salary cap for not pursuing any free agent or keeping a player from going that route. Owners in all sports should be made to face the consequences of their actions and not lean on players for protection against their own stupidity. Unfortunately, that’s the case with the Bears and all of the NFL. Shame on the players for allowing it to happen. Baseball’s soft cap is bad enough. Anything more and the players’ association will have committed a major blunder at the bargaining table.