Well, Ding Dong the Son of a Bitch is Dead.................
Maybe, just maybe George McCaskey plans on running this show different that it's been run for the past 30 years or so. At least his move and/or Ted Phillips move to do for the Bears and Bears fans what Jerry Angelo wouldn't do himself shows they have finally have the stones to make good decisions that aren't based on how much it will cost them.
It seems JA couldn't take all of the hints that were being handed down most of this season and had become rampant in recent weeks. Now he's the one who has to "go whistle" instead of us. Here's a guy who scapegoated his Director of Player Personnel and Director of College Scouting a year ago and forced them out only to hire his crony Tim Ruskell. Then just before the first Detroit game this year he threw his players and coaching staff under the bus by insisting that "the talent was there". Geez Jer, you must have felt like a total fool after that exhibition on national TV.
Now add to that his inability to draft well for over ten years, his complete failure to improve key postions through free agency this past summer, and the ongoing failure to get an extension done for Matt Forte and other key players who Lovie calls "his core", and you really have to wonder what the guy has done right. From my perspective of over 40 years watching this team I'd say it's been very little. There isn't one other person in the Bears organization, not even Mike Martz, who has shown the combination of arrogance and ineptitude that Jerry Angelo has exhibited this past year.
It's hard to describe just how relieved I was to see this news come across my computer screen this morning. It was like taking a good healthy crap after 18 weeks of total constipation. Now if they'll just continue making some smart decisions regarding how they intend to replace him maybe we can all stay that way. It should be obvious to all that Tim Ruskell is not the guy. He was just another Angelo crony and his track record in Seattle leaves much to be desired. Interestingly enough another GM with a far better track record who also left his team defenseless against a key injury to their QB just became available today as well when the Colts set Bill Polian free. Maybe he's not the right guy either but at the very least his name should go up on the board although I'd prefer a young Turk like Theo Epstein. An up and comer with a track record of success so to speak.
Hopefully this will break the logjam of decisions about who to offer extensions to and maybe even some movement towards mollifying Matt Forte with a better offer. There's still the possibility of franchising him but in the long run it serves no real purpose beyond next season and it certainly won't be looked upon favorably by Forte. The core guys such as Izzy, Jennings, Graham, Okoye, Kellen Davis and a couple of others deserve some attention now that the season has finished. Maybe Ted Phillips and Cliff Stein can move forward with that on their own. Before he was made the team President Phillips was instrumental in negotiating contracts.
I think retaining Lovie was the right thing to do. His season was sabotaged not only by injuries to key players but once again by an OC who struggled to put an affective offense on the field that even comes close to matching our defense and a GM who stubbornly refused to invest in the kind of talent the team needed to keep pace with the Packers. I'm sure that whoever is hired to replace Angelo will let Lovie know that the sand in his hourglass is running out too. There will be an expectation that the Bears will return to Super Bowl contention next year or this coaching staff will be history as well. Lovie can score some serious points right now by making the hard decision to let his pal Mike Martz seek other opportunities and then having a sit down with Jay Cutler so they can jointly decide who the better candidates for OC might be. Perhaps promoting Tice and then bringing in a guy like Jeremy Bates who Cutler has worked with before as a QB coach and play caller is a good way to go. At least there wouldn't be the constant battle to reign Martz in every year and young QB's like Caleb Hanie will get the coaching and support they need instead of the mental mind games Martz likes to play.
Does anyone else besides me think it's queer how the Packers can coach their backup to a 6 td 500 yard passing day in relief but we can't even get one victory out of a guy whose been around for four years??? Hanie looked totally bewildered out there and I noticed that Martz's play calling certainly didn't help much. He almost seemed to set him up for failure by calling for more passing than those games dictated yet when McCown finally gets his shot Martz magically finds the running plays index in his playbook again. Everyone may have misestimated Hanie's abilities but I still believe that Martz didn't like him from the start and did very little to help avoid the catastrophe that came from his starts. Angelo is out the door and Martz needs to follow within the next two or three days. Then Ruskell should be next and while Lovie, Cutler and Tice wrap their arms around how to improve that pathectic offense Phillips and McCaskey should be lining up GM and Personnel Director candidates.
You all are entitled to your own opinions about this mess but speaking for myself, and what I believe to be a whole lot more Bears fans, 40 years of watching the idiocy of the way this team is run have just worn me out as far as supporting just because they're my team. They'll always be my team but I'm holding back some of that support until I see this organization making meaningful moves to restore it to a consistent winner. Today's move in firing Jerry Angelo is a good start. It shows me that McCaskey and Phillips are prepared to make the tough decisions and take charge of turning the fiasco of 2011 around. Let's just hope this is only the first step in a series of improvements which need to be made. I'm sure I'm not the only fan whose lost his faith and confidence in the Bears organization so it's time to see if they'll man up and earn that back from me and everyone else whose thrown their hands up in frustration.
