Over wrought concerns about saving thr collanades while still wanting to modernizing the sight lines.
They did a great job given the limitations, honestly, but the limitations were self imposed.
Timing is also everything. I wonder if Daley had taken the bulldozer to Meigs a decade before he did that a concept like the Bears floated with a new stadium to south and the collanades forming a open plaza couldn't have happened 20 years ago. SF site would still have issues, but they could have spent the subsequent 20 years trying to improve the pedestrian and transit site access.
But the current iteration of that said plan SUCKED with it being a massive "public in name only" money grab offer by Bears.