Thursday marked the Chicago Cubs ninth straight loss. Despite the horrible play of the team on the field last night, the finger is surprisingly being pointed at someone else.

Joe Maddon.

Introduced to the Cubs organization in 2015 as the new manager to replace Rick Renteria, Maddon had successfully managed the Tampa Bay Rays, earning the reputation of as one of the more colorful and successful managers in baseball.

However, this season, Maddon hasn’t been the leader that the Cubs had back in 2015 and 2016. When the Cubs won their first World Series in a century, there was talk of a dynasty. Instead, it’s been a letdown ever since.

As much as I hate to say it, it is time for Maddon to go. Despite leading the Cubs to a World Series, the fans, the front office and even some of the players are not happy with him.

As of Thursday, the Cubs have neared the end of the season with a record of 82-77. They should have won at least 90 games and be in the hunt for the World Series.

But Maddon has made some controversial decisions during games this year. For example, last week, Maddon pinch-hit Javier Baez for Craig Kimbrel.

I have no problem with someone pinch-hitting for Kimbrel–who’s been pitching awful lately. However, Javier Baez still injured at the time and has barely had time to adjust back into things after being out for three straight weeks.

After the championship, people called him a genius. They said he had the best mind in baseball, and maybe this got in his head. He could still be trying to be the genius that everyone said he was. However, he hasn’t shown much intelligence this year, if I’m being honest.

More importantly, at the beginning of the season last year, Maddon was up for contract extension. Most managers who were in his position would be offered an extension after winning a World Series.

Nevertheless, this could have affected his style of play and the way he made his decisions. This could also mean, the front office has been searching for his replacement.

These could include a former player, David Ross, or more of an experienced manager. It seems to be that the front runner for the job is Mark Loretta, a current Cubs bench coach.

There are other people available for the job as well, like Joe Girardi, who has expressed interest. It doesn’t seem as likely after rumors of being the new Padres manager.

Maddon has earned the rank of one of the best Chicago Cubs managers ever but has not proven his worth the past two seasons.

Yes, this will be the first season we have missed the playoffs under him, but the Cubs struggled last year in lost in the Wild Card to the Rockies. And now missing the playoffs this year, things don’t seem to be looking up.

The Cubs are on a steady decline, and if a change doesn’t occur, they might be out of the playoffs the next couple of years thanks to the Cardinals and the Brewers.

Other people deserve blame too, like Theo Epstein, the general manager president for the Cubs. At the deadline, he made some good decisions in trading for Nicholas Castellanos and Tony Kemp.

However, the past couple offseasons have been shaky. They signed Tyler Chatwood from the Rockies, who was supposed to be a solid starter in the starting rotation. Except he’s turned out to be a mediocre reliever.

The signing of Yu Darvish sounded amazing when it happened. But Darvish has been disappointing for the money they are paying him.

However, I believe it’s more the in-game decisions that the front office and fans aren’t happy about.

While his love for the game will be missed, I feel like the Cubs will be in better hands without Maddon making the calls.

It’s time for a new era on the north side of Chicago.