VERIFIED DEAL: Rebuild dreams and realities before the Bears vs. White Sox game The Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres have formally agreed to a three-year, $95 million deal for the senior pitcher of their team. However…

Bears vs. White Sox: rebuild fantasies and realities

nOn May 9, 2016, the White Sox beat the Rangers to improve their record to 23-10. A season that we went into without a lot of optimism seemed like it might be turning into a pleasant surprise. At 13 games up, you could arguably go .500 the rest of the way and make the playoffs.

That didn’t happen. The season fell apart, almost immediately. By the end of June the White Sox were worse than .500, and a tentative, struggling era was over.

Coming out of that disappointment, over two days in December the Sox traded Chris Sale and Adam Eaton, and received Yoán Moncada, Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito, Dane Dunning, and Reynaldo López. This was the beginning of a new core. We knew it would be a few bad years, but there were promises of October fireworks. While a World Series is never guaranteed, the Sox were setting themselves up for years of contention.

That also didn’t happen; at 6-25 here in 2024, we know with teleological certainty that the rebuild was a failure. The end result was two playoff wins that did nothing to mask absolute organizational incompetence and a rot deep within Jerry Reinsdorf’s franchise. The present was a bust, and any lingering good vibes from 2005 have receded into an unimaginable past.

Organizational incompetence? Deep, family-based rot? A team clinging onto the faded glories of an increasingly sepia-stained past?

Does anyone hear the faint tone of “Bear Down, Chicago Bears” in the background?

And yet … the Bears now have hope. Great trades, key signings, and an inspiring draft have positioned the Bears to be a genuinely good team.

What did they do right — and what did the Sox do wrong? The differences are extremely telling.

 Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Extremely Important Caveat No. 1!

Now, you might be saying, but the Bears haven’t actually won anything yet! They were 7-10 last year, with some historic collapses. They have a rookie quarterback, a coach that frequently seemed outmatched, and a defense that was prone to letting teams come back against them. And, well, they are the Bears.

It’s true that the future isn’t written. Even teams that do everything right can fall apart. Football is an incredibly, maybe overly-complex game, and even incredibly well-built teams like the Bills can spin their wheels and eventually fall apart with little playoff glory to show for it.

So there’s nothing that says the Bears are going to be successful. And as excited as long-time fans are, longtime fans also know that this is where talented quarterbacks go to die. But that leads us to our first primary difference with the Bears rebuild.