Are the Bears using Hammond and other places as a bluff to get a better deal in Chicago?

The day after he proposed a special tax on social-media companies, cutting red tape on Illinois zoning laws and a push toward serious affordability against all and everything coming out of the White House in his $56 billion budget in his State of the State address, Gov. JB Pritzker prepared to enter back into the Illinois state capitol only to find out that the conversation he was about to hear concerning the Bears and their “next” stadium soap opera had been canceled.

“Scrapped” is how one newspaper put it. “Postponed” is how some people apparently were referring to it on the legislative floor. “Pause to the hearing” was the term used in the statement from the Bears. “Disappointed” was Pritzker’s word choice after hearing the Bears’ statement. “Whatever” seems to be the word being tossed around by everyone else not directly connected to the process of deciding where the Bears’ home games are going to take place in 2033.

So what are they really doing here? What is really going on?

There’s understanding that negotiating eight years out from the end of a residency deal is necessary, but bidding on — excuse me, bargaining between — two places outside of Chicago that have nothing to offer outside of land and opportunity (no historical or cultural connection at all) seems less like a strategy and more like a game is being played with hope that miraculously the lakefront-stadium concept will resurface at the 11:30 p.m. half-hour to keep the Chicago skyline orange and blue.

The Bears’ no-show Thursday on the slowly becoming infamous House Bill 2789 leaves open doors of thought and conspiracy that have the power to backfire in the Bears’ face if they don’t play this game perfectly or things don’t magically work out in this political/business/real estate situation the way things magically did on the field for them all season. Even with their appearance in front of the Illinois House committee being rescheduled for Thursday.

Three-card monte is what they seem to be playing. But this ain’t being played in the back of a CTA bus. These are three municipalities being tossed over and around and beside one another by one of the legacy franchises in sports history, pitting each one against the other to help themselves make a decision. A 55-year, over $2 billion-$4 billion decision.

An arduous mission. In the hands and under the watch of Bears president/CEO Kevin Warren, this is leaning toward making him the fall guy and the one to blame if — when — the Bears no longer reside in Chicago because of a tax-certainty technicality. (And the fact that Chicago has the highest sales-tax rate in the nation at 10.5%, and our tax rate on commercial properties is double the national average vs. Indiana’s set state sales tax of 7%, and a considerably lower tax rate on commercial property doesn’t help.)

The stress, panic and desperation of the “Hammond Bears” all enter the 36 Chambers even as the Bears continue to hold lawmakers hostage in Springfield. Is this just a ploy? A bluff? Are the Bears just using this process to better leverage the situation for them to possibly stay in Chicago? Can’t you see Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. and Arlington Heights Village President Jim Tinaglia huddling up, trying not to argue, as they realize the game the Bears are playing could be on both of them?

Indiana House members of the Ways and Means Committee voted 24-0 to issue bonds to finance, lease and build a stadium that would put the Bears’ name on it. And attached to that unanimous sense of thirst comes a desperate-feeling sense of urgency because the clock is ticking. At least for this year. Indiana’s lawmakers will be in session only until Friday. For Illinois legislators, their general assembly will be in session until the end of May. Again, the Bears won’t technically become homeless until 2033.

Then there’s the “fiscal responsibility” somehow lost in the “megaprojects” deal. The $84 million thrown away by vacating the lease with the Park District early, the almost $200 million ($197.2 million, to keep it exact) they let go to acquire the land in Arlington Heights if they go elsewhere, the remaining $356 million bill on the spaceship renovations done to Soldier Field in 2003. (An amount that has now been debted to us Chicago taxpayers with an added max interest that could hit us up for up to $534 million.)

Math it all up. It’s only hundreds of millions in a multibillion-dollar legislation.

Soon there more than likely will be a third Chicago mayor attached to this. Soon there might be a Super Bowl-contending team attached to this. Not so soon will a decision be made on where exactly the new Bears playpen will be. Because the Bears are playing all sides against one another.

Is this all speculation? Damn right it is. But it’s speculation based on moves that have made “big bank take little bank” a high-end corporate American business normality. The Bears as a franchise are probably worth more than both of the outside cities vying to build a stadium for them to play in. And they haven’t totally given up on leaving this city they call home. So ask yourself: Who’s the mack?