The interesting part of that news mainly involved the fact that Angelo hadn't retired, or even resigned, but was Fired with a capital "F". The Bears didn't stop with Angelo today either. After initially stating on their website that "...no other changes would be made", much maligned Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz and Quarterbacks Coach Shane Day had resigned as well.
What did all of this activity mean? Were there more names that were about to be referred to as "ex-Bears" on the coaching staff? Was Team President Ted Phillips next? How about Lovie Smith? If Jerry Angelo could be fired, couldn't the same fate await Lovie and Ted? After all, they have as much to do with the Bears making the postseason 3 times in 8 seasons, and only once since reaching the Super Bowl five seasons ago, as Angelo and Martz did. Does this activity signify that newly named Chairman George McCaskey was wiping the slate clean and starting fresh from the top down? Only an afternoon press conference could answer those questions:
Well the press conference happened, and unfortunately for us, the few answers we got aren't the right answers, and the new questions that have emerged are even worse.
There's so much subtext to all of this, it's pretty impossible for me to cover it all here, but I'll do what I can without "whistling Dixie". First things last, Jerry Angelo deserved to get fired. The totality of his too-many-misses-not-enough-hits draft classes, are more than enough grounds to justify Angelo's termination. Add the fact that Angelo's failure to recognize that Caleb Hanie couldn't play football while keeping Hanie on the roster for 4 seasons, on top of the following free agent/trade busts:
1. Adewale Ogunleye 2. Mushin Muhammad
3. Adam Archuleta 4. Frank Omiyale
5. Brandon Manumaleuna 6. Orlando Pace
7. Gaines Adams (RIP) 8. Chester Taylor
...and it's pretty clear that Jerry Angelo was in over his head, especially once he got away from Greg Gabriel and Bobby DePaul.
With regard to Mike Martz departing, I doubt many tears will be shed. Especially from the Bears most important player Jay Cutler. One sentiment I've heard is "Well you can't fire Martz because the last two game Cutler played, the offense was moving the ball pretty well." So that means it took 28 games before Martz's offense started to work?
Obviously that's not true. It's also not true that they were even running Martz's offense. What definitely IS true however is that the Bears made the simple art of relaying the play calls from the booth to the huddle the most complicated process ever, and thus burned more timeouts, and incurred more delay of game penalties, than any other team in the league.
Most fans don't seem to understand that Martz was calling all those running plays through gritted teeth. He HATED calling a 50/50 run/pass split every game. He couldn't stand calling plays for Cutler to roll out of the pocket and throw on the run. It was also Martz's idea to get rid of Cutler's favorite target Greg Olsen, since Martz's offense has absolutely no use for a pass catching Tight End. The New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, and Green Bay Packers on the other hand seem to think the Tight End can be a pretty lethal part of a passing game, but what the hell do they know about offense right Mike?
Martz wants to run his antiquated Greatest Show On Turf version of Air Coryell, and he can't accept that he doesn't have the talent on the roster to run it. More importantly, Martz doesn't understand that his offense is going to get Cutler killed, like it did with every other quarterback that ran it. Not to mention it's pretty much an open secret that Martz is known as a "Me Guy" in Halas Hall as well. Therefore it was in the Bears best interest to part ways with him, and search for an Offensive Coordinator that is ahead of the NFL curve, or at the very least understands what he can and can't run with this personnel.
As for what happens now? Well Ted Phillips and George McCaskey made it clear that Ted is running the Bears right now, and Lovie Smith will be the head coach for 2012 no matter what. This means that the incoming GM will not be allowed to replace Lovie for at least one more season. This doesn't really sit well with me, because it sure seems like there was some Quid Pro Quo between Ted and Lovie in an effort to save their jobs.
The logic being, Ted says he'll fire Angelo while asking Lovie to fire Martz, therefore the two of them will get what they want - another year of employment while placing Angelo and Martz as the scapegoats. Want proof that Lovie fired Martz? When asked about Martz's resignation, the first words out of Ted Phillips' mouth were "Well that was Lovie's call..." So yes, it's pretty obvious Lovie fired Martz and is now working on his 4th offensive coordinator in 9 seasons.
Here's my bottom line. If the Bears are serious about bringing in a new, big nuts, General Manager, and they're also serious about bringing in an offensive coordinator that's going to maximize the talents of the franchise QB....Phillips better not have only identified candidates, but he should have them all but one final interview away from accepting the job(s). I know some people might refer to this as "tampering", but a more accurate way to describe it would be "working the back channels of the NFL".
Something tells me that's not what has happened though. These moves are little more than scapegoating by two desperate men trying to save their own asses, in the form of Ted Phillips and Lovie Smith, and it looks like they are going to get away with it.
If George McCaskey would have done what many had hoped he would do, and clean house from Phillips on down, I think this would be cause for much more optimism. The Bears are a charter franchise of the NFL. They have some attractive components already on the roster, and if they were starting over with a new GM free to hire any coach he wanted, along with making any personnel moves he desired, I have to believe this job opening would be much more attractive to the likes of say a Bill Polian, Bill Parcells, Carl Peterson or to any of the new blood candidates whose names will be brandied about very soon.
Either way, today's transactions are another example of the Bears repeating the same mistake they made when they hired Jerry Angelo in the first place on that spring day in 2001. Angelo wasn't allowed to fire Dick Jauron, and as a result had to wait three seasons into the job before he could make his first - and it turns out only - head coaching hire.
As the title indicates, if George McCaskey was going to clean house, he missed two dirty spots he needed to get rid of.
No comments:
Post a Comment