Once you get through all the words spoken at the Bears' "Black Monday" news conference, you get the feeling the Bears are doing more of the same.

More of the same firings and hirings. More of the same business structure. More of the same half-stepping.

That’s what I came away with, anyway. George McCaskey and Ted Phillips, who hired and fired general manager Phil Emery and Marc Trestman, will make the final decision on the new general manager and head coach. Uh and oh.

As chairman, McCaskey would be expected to at least sign off on the choices. But Phillips will join him in those decisions -- decisions that should be made by someone else. Someone who would serve as football overlord based on years of executive football experience.

The one change in the Bears’ process is hiring respected football executive Ernie Accorsi as a consultant. Among other things, Accorsi chose Tom Coughlin to coach the Giants, a move that led to two Super Bowl titles. As team president for almost 16 years,...

Finally, a McCaskey who knows enough to be embarrassed.

Finally, a McCaskey who might care more about winning than counting pennies.

Finally, a McCaskey who might have a backbone and brains.

Finally, the Bears are starting to look like a big-boy NFL franchise instead of a mom-and-flop stand.

George McCaskey appears to know what he doesn’t know, and that’s football, a lesson his brother Michael never admitted. Same goes for Ted Phillips.

Or maybe it was George’s mother, Virginia, the daughter of George Halas, who issued the fatwa on the current administration, but whatever and however, big change has come to the Bears.

General manager Phil Emery and head coach Marc Trestman were fired Monday morning, a move McCaskey reportedly made with a consultant.

Emery had to go. He hired a disaster as a coach and paid a career-killing quarterback a record amount. Besides the draft, the two most important things a GM must get right are the coach and quarterback. Emery went 0-for-omigawd. Lanyards...

I have no idea what George McCaskey will say Monday, if he even shows up, that is. Who knows with the way the Lake Forest clown college is run.

I mean, the Bears might not be doing anything about this death spiral of a season until Tuesday or later. That’s how little faith this bunch of decision-makers inspires.

But here's what McCaskey should've said Sunday after the expected loss to the Vikings:

“I blew it. My fault. I should’ve done this during the off week after we got embarrassed 51-23 by the Patriots. I should’ve done it for sure at halftime of the Packers game. I mean, 42-0? Against our biggest rival? After two weeks to prepare?

“I should’ve fired the General Manager and coach then. I should’ve fired the coordinators then. I failed. I blew it. I was as ineffective as the people below me.

“You know where else I blew it? When we fired Jerry Angelo. I should’ve made a big move then. I should’ve cleaned out everyone then, or at least reorganized then.

“I blew it that time. But not...

I know it’s early in the season, and I know that only the playoffs matter -- heck, only June matters -- but goodness, Derrick Rose looks like Derrick Rose.

Finally. Rose finally looks like the guy he continually said he would be – said he would return to being.

He didn’t just play back-to-back games against Toronto and Washington, he starred in victories over two good Eastern Conference teams, which isn’t easy to find.

Rose’s surgically repaired knees looked pretty well repaired as he hit off-balance shots, runners, hard drives to the hoop, whatever was needed.

The Bulls beat the Raptors with a franchise-record 49-point fourth quarter Monday as Rose scored 15 of his 29 points in the final period.

Then the Bulls flew to Washington, and Rose was at his assassinating best Tuesday. The Bulls had given up a double-digit lead and were desperately trying to hold a one-point advantage with more than three minutes to go when Rose ripped off eight straight points. It was winning time. Rose won.

...

Wise up, Bears fans. Raise your standards. Have some pride. Show some brains.

Don’t be the fan who gives the McCaskeys the easy way out by justifying Jimmy Clausen’s performance against the Lions.

This is not to bash Clausen. He had a short week, little playing time and faced a tough defense. But he wasn’t the answer against the Lions on Sunday. The Bears' offense wasn’t better. It was the same, and that was bad.

That was a further indictment of Marc Trestman and Phil Emery, even if we already were overloaded with evidence making that case.

Clausen suffered a concussion in Sunday’s fourth quarter and will miss the season finale against the Vikings. Trestman might contend it deprives him of proving his coaching works. But we saw his coaching. It doesn’t. Not at a level that can win a Super Bowl here, and that’s the point.

I couldn’t believe the number of angry Twitter and email responses I got for telling the truth about Clausen’s Jay Cutler-like performance Sunday. What were you...

Robbie Gould might not hate Marc Trestman, but you can see it from here.

One of the most accurate kickers in NFL history nailed a couple of extra points in going off on the soon-to-be-fired Bears coach's decision to bench Jay Cutler to show leadership.

“To be honest with you, I feel really bad for Jay,’’ Gould said Monday on “The Spiegel and Mannelly Show’’ on WSCR-AM (670). “When you’re having a tough season like this, he’s not the guy to be the scapegoat or the guy to blame. There’s a lot of guys you could put that blame on. Unfortunately, I don’t know if necessarily he’s a guy that should take the entire blame because he doesn’t deserve it.’’

Those comments led to a question about Trestman’s version of accountability.

“You could bench the whole team,’’ Gould said. “”It’s not like anybody has really played fantastic or great. I mean, we’re 5-10 now. So ... Jay is not the problem. Jay is not the issue. It’s just unfortunate. This, honestly, it’s not the Bear way. I mean, this whole...