It's less than a full 12 hours into the New Year and already there's some bad news for fans of the Chicago Bears.
This NFL season's version of a total train wreck has apparently become so awful and the long-term outlook so dire that even finding a head coach and GM interested in attempting to fix the franchise may be a tall task.
"We feel this is a prestigious position," Team President Ted Phillips said Monday, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. "We've already had inquiries from people who want to be involved with the Chicago Bears, and we think this is a prime destination."
Potentially interested parties around the league don't feel the same.
Biggs polled 16 executives and coaches around the NFL to gather their opinion on the six head coaching openings and found the Bears, while not at the bottom of the rankings, were very close.
"Quarterback concerns left the Jets at the bottom, but the Bears job wasn't considered much better even with Jay Cutler, the passer in whom they have invested so much money and whom Chairman George McCaskey said he is a fan of personally and professionally. Elsewhere, Cutler is classified as a coach killer," Briggs writes.
That's got to be hard to hear for Bears fans who have grown used to victory and consistent success in the franchise's long, storied history.
"The Bears received more fifth-place votes (2) than first-place votes (1) and got the most fourth-place votes (8). The 49ers were tops with nine first-place votes, while the Falcons were the only team not to be ranked below third by anyone. The Jets had as many third-place votes as the Bears (5)."
The Bears job is apparently viewed as a long-term project that will take serious time to fix, despite Virginia McCaskey's being "pissed off" that the team has no recent championships.
"The Bears are an old team and they are salary-cap-restricted compared to the Raiders and Jets," a vice president for another team told Biggs. "You like what the quarterback in Oakland (Derek Carr) did, and the Cutler contract is a concern. Who is going to fix him?"
There is also concern that McCaskey's pronouncement means that whatever GM and coach they hire will be operating under unrealistic expectations and could be facing a quick hook should things not turn around quickly.
"They must view their roster and situation differently than I do because that thing is going to take some time," a longtime personnel man said to Biggs. "Finished fourth in their division and they're looking for their third GM since 2011. That tells me there is a quick trigger in Chicago.
"That is a rebuild."