The Bears’ disastrous 5-12 season is finally (and thankfully) over. I have been a fan of the Bears since 1962. Sixty-three seasons have passed for me. What do I have to show for it? More misery than joy. The Bears have regressed from the “Monsters of the Midway” to the “Monstrosity of Mid-America.” There have been only two championships: 1962 and 1985. Since ’62, I have witnessed 22 winning seasons and 34 losing campaigns. Toss in another seven outcomes that were even, and that’s what I have to show for being a Bears fan. And it matters that the Bears are worse today than ever before. The last 10 years, the Bears have steadily regressed. Why? The ownership. That’s where responsibility lies for management decisions. Selecting the personnel who run the team is on the McCaskeys. They hire the general managers, who select the coaches, sign players and make the draft picks. If there is anything all of them have in common, it’s that they have been equally inept: poor selections in GMs, head coaches and draft picks and dreadful development of players. Of course, there have been outstanding players — Ed O’Bradovich, Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers, Walter Payton, Dan Hampton, Steve McMichael, Richard Dent and Brian Urlacher, to name a few. But it’s the team. And the product is the result of shambolic ownership and management over the last 60-plus years. Kevin Warren, hired in 2023 as president, has a most impressive resume. He needs to be the watershed. Here’s hoping he can put the McCaskeys in a sandbox and keep them out of the way. Give them a box of crayons and a coloring book. Beating the Green Bay Packers in the final game does not cut it. Even a blind squirrel can find an acorn once in a while. If there is a silver lining in this manure of a moment, it is we can be thankful the the McCaskey monstrosity doesn’t manufacture airplanes. — Joel W. Ostrander, Oak Park Giving up on pro football I have been a Bears fan for many years. I have always loved the Bears, starting with Papa Bear George Halas when the team played in the outfield at Wrigley Field. Boy, was it cold there. Sadly, after this season, I will no longer be a Bears fan or follow pro football, not because the Bears had a losing season but because the game today is totally different from when I loved it, and it has no meaning for me anymore. I feel the same way about many other things in this life today. — Richard A. Winkler, Rodeo, New Mexico Sports outing a great time My husband and I, like thousands of others, made the trip to Chicago for the NHL Winter Classic to cheer on our Blues. I’m old enough to remember the days when fights between the two teams’ fans would break out at our old arena. Not anymore. Everyone we encountered in the Chicago area was very nice and welcoming. Even the Blackhawks fans were good company! Thank you for an enjoyable visit to your city. — Laura and Dave Schmidt, St. Louis Crack down on graffiti As a Chicago resident and driver of the expressways, I am appalled by the amount of graffiti that is around the city. Since this is not sanctioned art, why do citizens have to look at the dismal display on a daily basis? If it was art, it would be in a gallery, and it would then be my option to visit this art. I would not want to take away taggers’ freedom of expression, but what about living in a clean environment? What gives the taggers the right to deface public property? It is against the law. Private property is also being defaced, which to have cleaned is a cost to the resident. There are cameras all over the place. I think that it would be advantageous to arrest the people who are defacing public property. Hand down hefty fines, which could go toward the budget or to sustain the enforcement group that is monitoring this mess. And finally, have these taggers clean up their own mess, so we do not have to use our resources or pay to have it cleaned. If they have the money for paint and the time to deface, they have the time and money to clean. Yes, it might take away a few police resources for a while until the message is out that Chicago will not tolerate rogue people. Don’t the citizens of Chicago deserve to live in a clean city? It would never have gotten this bad under the Daleys. — L. Potaniec, Chicago A practice of gratitude Thank you for the Marcel Schwantes article “Science swears by 5 strategies to greatly improve well-being” in the Jan. 5 issue. I particularly like the final recommendation to practice gratitude. My family does this at the end of dinner when we say “grats.” One person tells us three things for which she or he is grateful. Then we have a conversation about what was said. Being the old guy at the table, I often discuss how one of those things was different in earlier times. For example, if televisions are cited, I might talk about how, when I was young, we didn’t have one and that the first TVs had small screens and took a while to warm up before a low-quality black-and-white image grudgingly appeared. The only rules we have are that grats shouldn’t involve a person at the table, nor something that was brought up recently. Otherwise, the grats can be anything — big or small. Examples: freedom of speech, paper towels, email, volunteers, toothbrushes, friends, pie, plastic, sunshine, living in America, electricity, teachers, parks and music. The grats have sparked a lot of good conversation and made us more appreciative of the lives we have. I invite Tribune readers to give it a try. — Gary Jump, Itasca Editor’s note: We’d like to hear from you about your hopes for the new year — whether for our country, our state, your community or your family. Submit a letter of no more than 400 words to [email protected]. Be sure to include your full name and city/town. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].