The Chicago Bears Fan Forum

On Thursday, Michael Lombardi at the National Football Post had this to say about the Bears defensive coordinator search:

“…I’d be surprised if the Bears hire a new defensive coordinator. They wanted Perry Fewell, thought they had a commitment from Fewell and he left. Their interest in hiring a defensive coordinator was really just an interest in hiring Fewell.”

Steve Rosenbloom at the Chicago Tribune expressed his thougthts a little differenly:

“Exactly when will the Bears leftover coach name his defensive sock puppet?”

The answer, it turns out, was yesterday.  And neither man was far off in his assessment.  The Bears chose to promote from within by making defensive line coach Rod Marinelli the “new” defensive coordinator.

What a disappointment.

Why they couldn’t have done this the day after Fewell turned them down, I don’t know.  The delay has certainly made them look even worse fools in the eyes the league than the long and winding search for an offensive coordinator did.  At least they were looking at candidates in the interim in that instance.

In any case, near the beginning of this process, I wrote that one of the things we’ve all suspected since head coach Lovie Smith fired Ron Rivera was that he prefers to be surrounded by people who won’t contradict him.  Smith fosters this idea through his attitude with the media.  He habitually stands and bristles any time anyone asks a question which challenges a statement or decision.  For instance, ii is not surprising that Smith chose to release a statement rather than standing before the media to defend this decision to promote a member of the current staff rather than looking to the outside.  Its not that it was inappropriate so much that it was typical for him to spend the minimum amount of time and effort possible to explain himself to the fans and media.

Though we can’t be sure, no one would be surprised if that insecurity carries over to his coaching staff and the team’s defensive philosophy.  The evidence of our eyes certainly supports the idea.  It seems apparent now that Smith considers people who don’t see things as he does as mutinous.

The good new is that Marinelli is someone we can all like who does fill a gap in the team persona.  He is universally considered to be a guy who motivates through the power of positive thinking and a source of external motivation is something the Bears players could use given Smith’s stoic public personality.  But Marinelli is not what the team needed.

I’ve heard multiple times about how the Bears are lacking talent on the defensive side of the ball.  That’s fine but to imply that the defense is totally devoid of talent would be a great exaggeration.  When your team exhibits weaknesses in certain areas, you need someone who can adjust the scheme to fit the talent you have.  If Marinelli could do that, he’d have shown it last year with suggestions from his position as assistant head coach and if Smith could do it himself, he would have done it long before that.

I thought that whoever the Bears hired should bring back more of that creative tension that has evidently been lacking since Rivera’s departure.  With Smith’s previous choice of  Bob Babich and now of Marinelli (not to mention his choice of himself last season) it’s now evident that just isn’t going to happen.  Smith will shuffle the names to make it look like he’s doing something substantial but the reality is that its just the same old philosophy with minimal actual change in ideas that aren’t closely related to his own.

But what’s really disappointing about this selection is what it tells us about Smith and the future of the Bears.  Most people understood that one of former Bears head coach Dick Jauron’s flaws was that he was extremely stubborn.  Jauron has nothing on Smith.  At least Jauron erred on the side of loyalty to those around him.  Smith finds scapegoats and fires assistants like the rest of us throw away used paper towels – which is fine, except that he hasn’t shown a talent for replacing them with better alternatives.

It’s fine if Smith believes that it should be his way or the highway.  But if you are going to have that attitude, you have to be able to step outside yourself to properly evaluate whether what you are doing is working.  Smith apparently can’t do that and even if he could, he’d be unlikely to be able to find ways to fix it.  He can’t see what needs to be done himself and he’s not willing to travel far enough outside his comfort zone to accept new ideas from the outside to help.

That’s a fatal flaw that doesn’t bode well for the Bears prospects as long as Smith is in charge.

Bears

• Matt Bowen at the National Football Post thinks that Jay Cutler had better come ready to work with Mike Martz as offensive coordinator.  It could be just what Cutler needs…  or a complete disaster.  Gotta love it.
• Larry Mayer at chicagobears.com answers your questions.  He points out that, according to new offensive coordinator Mike Martz, he and Rod Marinelli had no problems in Detroit.  I’d like to hear that from Marinelli in his own words (and something similar from QB Jay Cutler while we’re at it).
• David Haugh at the Chicago Tribune thinks the Bears should install Field Turf because Martz’s offense would presumably run more smoothly on it.  I’d like to hear that from Martz.  He might tell you he’s got plans to better use the surface as it is now.
• Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune breaks down the impact of Martz’s offensive philosophy on the Bears at relevant positions with his usual thoughtfulness:

“He [Martz] also asks that his quarterbacks make many throws on timing, which means they have to trust their receivers—and quarterback-receiver trust was an issue on the Bears last year.”

Pompei was talking about Cutler.  But he might as well have been talking about the wide receivers, especially Devin Hester.  I’m guessing that Martz is as good as anyone in the NFL at teaching this.  He’d better be.

• On the other hand, there’s this from Marshall Faulk via Jeff Dickerson at ESPNChicago:

“It’s not about the offense, it’s about the quarterback.  If the quarterback can call it and learn it, everybody else can call it and learn it, because the quarterback has more on his plate than anybody else. Everything is based on the quarterback. They’re going to run what Cutler can handle.”

• Faulk also points out what is by far the biggest concern about implementing the offense in Chicago, this time via Haugh:

“… it will be very interesting to see offensive line-wise if they can provide stability for Cutler and Matt Forte. … We can talk a lot about (how) Ron Turner did a bad job, but the offensive line, guys, they weren’t that good.”

• On a related note, “L’il Stevie Sunshine” Rosenbloom at the Chicago Tribune can be positive after all:

“Yes, well, moving right along, one positive is that Cutler stood in the pocket and took a beating in order to make the right play last year, perhaps surprising a lot of people with his toughness. Another couple positives are that Cutler can run out of trouble and actually throws fewer interceptions on the run.”

Good points.  I doubt very much that Martz has ever worked with a QB as mobile as Cutler.  What he does about it will be yet another fascinating thing to watch for next year.

• Martz on Matt Forte via Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times:

“There are so many things you can do. He has the same kinds of abilities as Marshall. He has the soft hands, the change of direction in pass routes, good route runner, he’s a very unselfish pass blocker, so he’s willing to stick his nose in there. We know what he has done as a rusher. He’s the complete package. We’ll formation him and get him matched up inside on backers and occasional safeties will be part of what we do.”

Cris Collinsworth, who expressed doubts about the Martz hire on “The Danny Mac Show”, also had interesting thing to say about Forte (via the Tribune):

“The one thing that (Martz) hasn’t had in other places [since St. Louis] is a Marshall Faulk.  Can Matt Forte be Marshall Faulk? He’s certainly proven to be smart enough. That’s what Marshall Faulk set himself apart with. He could read the coverages, he could run routes with anybody, he could do the pass protections, he understood the game. And Matt is as smart as Marshall Faulk is. If he can create that, he can maybe create a little bit more of what they did with the Rams.”

For those of you who criticized the Bears for letting Cedric Benson go, its these qualities which make Forte a much better football player and one who fits this offense very well.  He’s going to be extremely important.  So is Kevin Jones, who loves Martz from his days in Detroit, and Sean Jensen at the Sun-Times is already beating the drum for unrestricted free agent Chester Taylor.

• Mark Potash at the Sun-Times makes an interesting argument that Mike Tice was a more important hire than Martz was.
• Pompei writes a good column for the Tribune on what the Colts have done with the cover-2 defense.  The guess here is that this is why Smith might be waiting to hire his next defensive coordinator – he wants to bring some of these concepts to the Bears.  Multiple columnists around town are suggesting Coltes defensive backs coach Alan Williams as a good possibility for Bears defensive coordinator.  That won’t happen if Smith actually hires a coordinator before the Super Bowl as he said he’d like to do.
• Brad Biggs breaks down the Bears defensive end position for the Tribune.  Not long ago I said that safety was the Bears greatest area of need.  That all changed with the death of Gaines Adams.  Pass rushing defensive lineman is now at the top of the list.
• Bigg also addresses the runningback position.  He sees the need for a short yardage back.

Elsewhere

• Turner is trying to get the Giants’ open quarterbacks coach position.  A stint coaching quarterbacks could be the best thing Turner could do for himself.  Now more than ever, the ability to coach the QB directly must seem to be an extremely important issue should he get another coordinator post.
• I’m glad to see that Dick Jauron is back in the league as a defensive backs coach.  Say what you want about Jauron’s tenure in Chicago but the Bears defensive backs were always well coached when he was here.
• Matt Bowen does a better than average job of pointing out things to look for in the Super Bowl this Sunday for the National Football Post :

“Gregg Williams is going after Peyton Manning.  Like we’ve talked about this week, Williams will have to play his coverage schemes. But when the Saints do blitz, I don’t expect to see anything without safety help unless the Colts are in the red zone — and then all bets are off. However, out in the field, look for the Saints to use their zone pressure schemes (which can become exotic under Williams) to try and force Peyton Manning to throw the ball blindly with zone defenders dropping into passing lanes and undercutting receivers with help over the top.”

This is probably the best strategy.  The problem is that it hasn’t worked all year.  The Saints have to hope that their offense performs very well on Sunday.

• Robert Boland writes a facinating column for the Post.  He thinks that the thing both Super Bowl teams have in common is a high degree of what is termed “Emotional Intelligence”:

“There are some who call the concept of EI pop science, but it has ardent believers in the academy and the business world. Most studies demonstrate some positive link or correlation between high-functioning individuals and groups with the four abilities inherent in emotional intelligence: to be self-aware; to manage self; to be aware of one’s impact on others, and to use that influence to inspire others.”

You’ll have to read it to get exactly what he’s driving at but I’m going to take it in a slightly different direction.

Many regular readers are probably getting tired of this and if so, they should skip down.  But I’ve been getting hammered for calling the Vikings Brad Childress the worst head coach in the NFL.  Think carefully about the four criteria above.  Childress scores really, really high in one and two.  But is there any head coach in the league who scores lower in three and four?  No.  And for a head coach, you could argue that they are the most important criteria of the four.

One Final Thought

There’s off-season talk about moving Frank Omiyale from guard to right tackle.  I think the Bears should think long and hard before doing that.

Omiyale brings size to the interior to the offensive line that the Bears need badly.  They’ve got the Williams boys at defensive tackle in Minnesota and the nose guard and two defensive ends to deal with in Green Bay.  The defensive linemen in the 3-4 are typically on the large size for each of these positions.  Even 4-3 defenses that have typically had smaller, quicker defensive tackles like the Colts are trending towards more size inside to stop the run.

Yes, Omiyale didn’t have a good year.  But he’d never played guard before and he was learning the position on a line with 2 other new starters, one of which was his partner at left tackle.

To my eye, the offensive line was beginning to gel at the end of last season.  I wouldn’t alter it now until I was sure it wouldn’t work as it is now configured.

Bears

• David Haugh had a really good column for the Chicago Tribune on the Bears sending Mike Martz to Tennessee to meet with Jay Cutler:

“Compatibility with Cutler surely matters for the next offensive coordinator, so, granted, it was a good idea for the two strong personalities to meet. But not in a way that ultimately makes Martz look needy and Cutler appear controlling.”

“This wasn’t Vikings coach Brad Childress leaving practice to pick up Brett Favre from the Minneapolis airport during training camp last August. This was a more obvious bow.”

That last comment hurts.  I absolutely roasted Childress for doing that – deservedly.  The Cutler scenario is close enough to make me uncomfortable.

Having said that, I really don’t think its the same and I see things more as Neil Hayes does at the Chicago Sun-Times.  In contrast to the Childress situation, this was probably a necessary step.  The Bears are just making sure that Cutler and Martz can get along.  They have to generally be on the same page for this to work.  But this doesn’t mean that Cutler has to always like it.  If Cutler says, “No.  I can’t work with this guy.  We aren’t compatible,” the Bears probably wouldn’t have hired him.  But Cutler’s didn’t make the decision.

Unless Martz preferred to meet with Culter on his home turf, the only thing I would have done differently is I would have flown him into Chicago to meet with Martz.

• I was glad to see that Martz didn’t back down from his comments about Cutler on the NFL Network (via the Tribune):

“The thing I told Jay, the thing I felt bad when I watched [the press conference after the season-opening loss to Green Bay], was I felt like I knew what Jay was, I met him when he was coming out in the draft for quite some time up in Detroit. I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of who he was and the integrity and the dignity that he has and how classy a guy he is, and how he kind of misrepresented himself with that and really that was totally out of frustration for that game.

“He’s going to be one of the elite players in this league for a long time and those are things that he’s just going to have to deal with. That was a very difficult situation for him, very difficult, but a great experience for him to go through it and know now you’ve just got to kind of take that deep breath before you go in there. As a former head coach, you go through those things and collect yourself a little bit and then go in there. I didn’t think it demonstrated who he really was … those are all learning experiences for all of us.”

Martz can’t afford to compromise himself by apologizing for saying something he thought was right.  Cutler is getting the straight dope from him whether its what he wants to hear or not.  That obviously needs to continue.

• Michael Lombardi at the National Football Post gives five reasons why it was a good idea for the Bears to hire Martz.  I recommend clicking the link and reading this article.  It isn’t the usual yada.

“The biggest reason hiring Martz makes sense is that he can command attention and respect from Cutler. He would be able to stimulate Cutler mentally, so he would capture his attention and improve his performance. The most critical factor that the Bears’ next offensive coach must have is the ability to motivate Cutler through his intellect and knowledge of the passing game. Cutler is no different than most players in the league who respect knowledge. To improve as a player, a coach must first prove he knows more about the game than the player, and in this case, Martz will be able to prove it immediately.”

• Matt Bowen, also at the Post, thinks the Bears had nothing to lose by hiring Martz:

“We all know that Lovie is not standing on firm ground. The team has a franchise quarterback who just threw 26 interceptions. The offense was terrible in the red zone. What else do we need to say? Should the Bears have been conservative? No, you get a coach in Martz who is willing to work with Cutler and who is willing to take risks on the field — something the Bears did not do in their play calling under the dismissed Ron Turner.”

• Jeff Dickerson at ESPNChicago.com points to another thing to look for with Martz:

“There was also rumored to be a potential rift between Martz and new offensive line coach Mike Tice, but for the time being, those concerns have been alleviated.

“Notice I said for the time being.”

• Steve Rosenbloom takes a less than positive view of the Martz hire.  I’m shocked.

“Martz was campaigning for the job before it was open, and then again after Turner was made a scapegoat, but Martz didn’t get summoned to the rubber room that is Halas Hall until last week, and what happens when he does? They tell him to fly to Tennessee, apparently because there are no adults in Lake Forest.

“If you connect the dots, this looks, feels and smells like the leftover general manager getting in the way of the leftover coach. Oh, the Bears’ spin will be that after all their due diligence and tireless work and research and background checks and blah, blah, blah, they decided that Martz was the right choice.

“And it’s possible that the leftover coach knew the radioactive Martz would still be available after the Bears were done being pantsed by other candidates.

“Possible, but hardly believable.

“Because this whole thing feels as if the leftover general manager didn’t want the leftover coach to hire Martz, and if he didn’t actively prevent it, he should have, and here’s why:

“Martz’s demanding, pass-happy offense will expose the lack of football IQ of the leftover general manager’s draft choices. Further expose, I guess I should say.”

Angelo did, indeed, try to convince us that he was 100% behind Smith’s decision and, like, Rosenbloom, I don’t believe it for a second.

• Dickerson also tells us why Saints safety Darren Sharper probably won’t be a Bear any time soon.
• Looks like the Panthers are going to let Julius Peppers head into free agency.  Just sayin’…
• Brad Biggs at the Tribune does an off-season breakdown of the quarterback position.  It looks pretty set depending upon how they feel about Brett Basanez at number 3.
• Now that the Bears have hired an offensive coordinator, Biggs points out that they need to concentrate on the defensive side.  I had originally thought that they might look to the Indianapolis Colts for their next coordinator there but the Bears apparently are going to try to hire a coordinator before the Super Bowl (via Vaughn McClure, also at the Tribune).  Speculation is that they will likely hire from within if that is the case.

Elsewhere

• Commissioner Roger Goodell told Rich Eisen at the NFL Network that a year without a salary cap is a “virtually certain”. Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com comments:

“…with no urgency to get a deal done before March 2010, the eleventh hour has now been shifted to early 2011.  Basically, then, we’ll see more preening and posturing until the moment that the two sides get serious about doing a deal — and that moment is still at least 12 months away.”

Can’t wait.

• Just FYI the NFL scouting combine list can be found here.
• Dolphin’s outside linebacker Joey Porter said he is is requesting a trade on ESPN’s Jim Rome Show (via Evan Silva at profootballtalk.com).  Silva thinks it more likely that he’ll be released.
• The headline for this post at PFT also caught my eye:

“Vick says he’s still a top 10 quarterback”

Still?

• Florio thinks that teams might be cautious about spending in 2010 in spite of the absence of a salary cap because they might still be required to get down under new one once a new CBA is negotiated.

One Final Thought

Hayes again at the Sun-Times on the Martz hire:

“Here’s something else that’s worth pointing out: For all the guff coach Lovie Smith has taken during this process — and much of it justifiably so — it’s tough to argue with the results. He got Mike Tice, one of the most respected offensive line coaches/running game coordinators in the NFL, to coach the line, He got Mike Martz, one of the greatest offensive minds of his generation, to run the offense.

“If all these egos and personalities can come together, and if general manager Jerry Angelo can get the right personnel in the right spots, the Bears should be in pretty good hands.

“Either way, the Bears just got a lot more fun to watch.”

Head coach Lovie Smith’s decision to hire Mike Martz as offensive coordinator represents a major change in philosophy at Halas Hall.  The team that “gets off the bus running” is looking to morph into a much more dynamic and pass-oriented beast.  Though no one said it out right (no one associated with the organization ever says anything unless they have to), it was easy to read between the lines (via Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times):

“‘We wanted to be something different than what we were,’ [GM Jerry] Angelo said, ‘and we just felt after going through the process that Mike really presented what we considered the best plan for us.’”

“‘When I say get off the bus running the football, I mean that is a mind-set,’ Smith said. ‘The run will always be a part of what we’re going to do. [We play in] Chicago, we play in the elements. That won’t change. But there’s nothing wrong with being able to run the football well and having balance to be able to pass the football. That’s what I’m excited about.’”

Coaches usually talk about “balance” when they feel like they weren’t emphasizing one part of the offense enough.

The reason for this change is easy enough to figure.  In 2009 the Bears got blown out by Cincinnati, Arizona, and Minneasota for a game and a half.  The only good offense that they hung tight with was Green Bay in the second half of the season.  All of those teams that beat the Bears badly had one thing in common – very, very good passing games that were executed with surgical precision.  These teams were unstoppable against an average Bears defense (I’m being kind) and it’s become evident to everyone that the Bears aren’t going to beat anyone who is any good next year without scoring points in kind.

All you have to do is look at the Super Bowl matchup to understand the thinking.  When you ask the question, “Who is going to win?” most experts will answer, “Depends if the Saints offense can keep up with Peyton Manning and the Colts.”  It’s a given that the Colts are probably going to score their share of points almost no matter who they play.  It’s possible that the Saints will hang tough and win because have a very good offense in their own right.  Without it, they wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell no matter how good their defense was.

One of my favorite programs on TV is ESPN’s NFL Matchup.  Ron Jaworski and Merril Hoge break down game tape to show how the best teams in the game implement their schemes and point out keys to a few chosen games for that week.  Despite my love for this show it can sometimes be painful to watch as a Bears fan.  Because the Bears are never, ever featured on the show except as an example of what not to do against another good team.  You never see them touted as an example of a good play with combination routes.  You never see the Bears offense manipulating an opposing safety.  You never hear Jaworski talk about a Bear quarterback showing good anticipation or eye discipline.  Never.

That’s all about to change.  The way the modern NFL game is configured with the current rules being what they are, the Bears are doing the right thing.  Running the ball is still important but there’s no getting around the fact that its a passing league.  The Bears now have one of the best architects of the modern passing game around implementing theirs.

Bears

• Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com has always been able to get good information on the Bears dating back to the days of former head coach Dick Jauron.  He came through big time today.  According to his source, head coach Lovie Smith has wanted Mike Martz all along and GM Jerry Angelo is throwing up road blocks to the hire.  I’d quote the article but I’d have to put up the whole thing to get all of the interesting parts.

I understand that there will always be disagreements within an organization on how best to proceed.  I can’t tell you exactly when those disagreements transition into dysfunction.  But I think the Bears might be approaching the border.  If the Bears hire Martz and things don’t work out, things could turn ugly.  I mean uglier than you might have anticipated anyway.

The Bears didn’t part ways with Jauron on the best of terms (I’m sure it’s buried in the archives but Florio had the story even back then).  You have to wonder if the same situation isn’t on the way to playing out again next season.  At some point, Angelo may have to look himself in the mirror when he wonders why.

• The Bears had the easiest schedule in the NFL going into 2009 based upon their opponents’ 2008 records.  According to Larry Mayer at chicagobears.com, next year their schedule is ranked 14th.  This does not bode well for those hoping for an improved 2010.
• Jeff Dickerson at ESPNChicago.com answers your questions and talks about the possibility of the Bears signing Aaron Kampman.  This is going to be a big off-season topic if the Packers don’t franchise him.  The Bears need a pass rusher badly.  Without a first or second round draft pick the Bears will have some money to throw around.  Dickerson thinks everyone, including Kampman, will want to wait until he can show that his injured knee is completely healed before signing.  Adewale Ogunleye also remains a good possibility to resign.
• Vaughn McClure at the Chicago Tribune reports that Ken Zampese won’t be the Bears new offensive coordinator.  The Bears didn’t like him enough to extend a contract quickly and Zampese decided – probably correctly – to stay with the Bengals as QB coach rather than quit the position and wait on them.
• Saturday Night Live is airing a sports tribute tonight at 8 pm.  It would be a major upset if the Super Fans weren’t a big part of that.
• Here’s a good Audible from Pro Football Weekly.  He isn’t mentioned but Brian Urlacher easily fits into this quote as well:

“You never watch a Ravens game and do not know Ray Lewis is on the field. He has that type of presence about him. You never watched Mike Singletary back in the day where you did not know he was on the field. Great middle linebackers have that presence. Patrick Willis is better physically than maybe any linebacker ever to play the game, but there are still certain games where he does not show up competitively like those other guys do week in and week out. Reggie White is a Hall of Famer for a reason. It was a lot more than just physical ability. He brought so much more to the field.”

Lions

• The Lions are apparently going to bring in another running back in the off-season according to John Niyo at the Detroit News:

“The question will be what their role is going to be,” [GM Martin] Mayhew said. “Is it going to be a guy you bring in and say, ‘This guy is going to be our starter.’ Or is it going to be a guy you bring in to supplement what you already have.”

This should not be a question.  Shouldn’t the type of guy you want to bring in already have been determined?  Either you need a starter or you don’t and you either have a plan for the position or you don’t.  Unfortunately for the Lions, we seem to have the answer to the latter.

Packers

• According to Greg Bedard at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel GM Ted Thompson “expected more” out of the Packers this year:

“Well, none of us are really happy right now.  I think if you looked on it from two or three years from now, you know, 11-5 is a pretty good year. It’s tough to win games in the NFL. But I think we expected more.”

I understand disappointment at the playoff loss but I have a hard time believing that anyone could have expected better than 11-5 for that team.  Generally speaking they did a great job of getting the most out of what they had.  Kudos to them but I’d be shocked if they won that many again next year.

• The interview with Thompson was interesting.  You think the Bears play it close to the vest?  They’ve got nothing on this guy.  Check this exchange out (it was typical):

Q. What’s the one area you think the Packers need to be better to be at a Super Bowl level?

A. There’s probably a lot of areas.

Q. There’s got to be one thing that’s foremost in your mind.

A. I’m sure there is.

Q. You’re not going to tell me, are you?

A. No.

Q. What’s the biggest regret you have during your tenure?

A. Oh. (Didn’t answer).

• In yet another indication that nose tackle has become one of the most valuable positions, if not the most valuable position, in football, the only free agent that the Packers are currently negotiating with in Ryan Pickett.  Pickett is even a higher priority than left tackle Chad Clifton, though Clifton is next on the list.
• Michael Hunt at the Journal Sentinel writes a funny column entitled, “Dear Vikings, he’s your problem now”.  Guess who “he” is.

Vikings

• Most of us understand that Bryant McKinnie was just being an obnoxious jerk (i.e. typical) when he blew off 4 of 5 Pro Bowl practices and the team picture to enjoy Miami’s finest strip clubs and was ultimately dismissed from the team.  But David Hyde at the South Florida Sun Sentinel thinks that should make him the game’s MVP.
• Bill Plasche at the Los Angeles Times thinks the Vikings got “hosed” by the OT rule rather than the turnovers and poor coaching decisions.
• A frustrated Vikings fan is selling his allegiance on eBay:

“The Vikings have a way of building your excitment to a peak and then crushing your spirit, ripping out your heart and stomping on it. I can’t take it anymore…The Gary Anderson miss field goal, 41-0, and now 12 men in the huddle followed with an interception… I AM DONE! Please help!”

Priceless.

• I’m not the biggest Jared Allen fan (I’m a Bear fan after all), but I’ve got to hand it to him.  He’s pretty funny.  He made Brett Favre an interesting offer if he’d stay and QB the Vikings again next year on an appearance on the NFL Network (via Gregg Rosenthal at profootballtalk.com):

“Everything but my backside loves you, but if you come back, I will let you slap my rear end every single day.  In no way gay at all, but I will take that stinging pain and I will eat it every day.”

Elsewhere

• Kurt Warner has officially retired.  I doubt he’ll be pulling a Brett Favre so I think its safe (relatively) to put a cap on his career.  Many will say that Warner had the good fortune of working with some good teams and some great wide receivers.  He also had some down years.  But he still looks at like an Hall of Fame selection to me.
• Here’s another good Audible:

“The talent level at the East-West Shrine Game was extremely average. I would guess only 25 percent of the players there were really draftable. The talent level is really down.”

The Bears don’t have a pick in the first two rounds.

• Another Bear-related Audible:

“The Tampa-2 has fallen out of favor around the league. It’s too easy to pick apart. Good quarterbacks know where the soft spots are and can dink-and-dunk it to death.”

• And one more.  This one isn’t new but I’ve never heard it put quite this way before:

“(Jets OLB) Vernon Gholston had slow eyes in college. It took him too long to see it. That is one trait that scares the hell out of me at any position. If you have instincts, you have a chance.”

“slow eyes”.  I like that.  I sometimes think that some of the Bears safeties have the same problem and its fatal at that position.

One Final Thought

Here’s a great Audible from Pro Football Weekly.  After keeping QB coach Tom Clements from interviewing with the Bears for their open offensive coordinator position, I think Packer’s coach Mike McCarthy is one guy who needs to hear it.

“Andy Reid was not afraid to let Steve Spagnuolo leave for a team within the division (the Giants). Secure people, they will never hold back their employees from taking a better job. But you have a lot of teams in this league who will restrict their employees from bettering themselves — too many. Too many insecure people. I understand it, but I think it’s selfish, and it usually creates a lot of resentment on coaching staffs. Trust me, I’ve been around it.”

I was gone for a week so this is the first time I’ll have the opportunity to comment on the Vikings loss last Sunday in the NFC championship game.  I’ve made my feelings about Vikings head coach Brad Childress known before so I’m going to make this short and sweet.

There were a lot of things the Vikings did wrong.  But one particular thing sticks out:  with the Vikings in field goal range and the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Childress decided to do something fancy and they got caught with 12 men in the huddle.  The penalty took them definitively out of field goal range and was a dagger that may have ultimately lost them the game.  Many will point to Brett Favre’s interception but in my opinion, it doesn’t happen without that penalty.

The situation reminds me of yet another Audible from my favorite feature in Pro Football Weekly:

“You don’t have to be the smartest guy in the room to be the head coach, but you should be the best listener.”

Brad Childress is always the guy trying to show that he’s the smartest guy in the room.  He probably is.  But he has absolutely no feel whatsoever for his players or the situations that he puts them in.  He doesn’t try to see the world as they see it.  He doesn’t listen.

Many will ask why, as a Bears fan, I should feel so strongly about this.  It’s because I hate to see talent wasted, even when its on the team of a division rival.

The Vikings clearly had the best team on the field.  I mean it wasn’t close.  They probably had the best team in the league, both last year and this year.  And they lost.  When that happens, it is the coach’s fault.  And its a crime.

Brad Biggs and Dan Pompei are suggesting that Mike Martz could be named offensive coordinator “in the very near future”.  Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times quotes a source as saying that the situation is “complicated”.  Rumor has it that head coach Lovie Smith favors Martz but that GM Jerry Angelo isn’t happy about the possibility.

Smith’s thinking is easy to reason out.  He knows Martz and he’s going to be most comfortable with him.  And Martz is, by all accounts, a great offensive mind and Smith would have seen him at his best with the St. Louis Rams.  The only think that might count against him there would be a negative reference from former Lions head coach Rod Marinelli who had Martz as his offensive coordinator.  That apparently either isn’t the case or the feelings aren’t strong enough to prevent Smith from giving Martz his endorsement.

There are all kinds of reasons why Angelo wouldn’t look as favorably on Martz.  First, Angelo knows he’s got to turn things around quickly and Martz’s offense is complicated.  It could easily take a minimum of a year to learn and get down to the point where performance would be high.  In fact, many will say that it takes three years to really learn it and execute it right.

Second, as pointed out by Sean Jensen at the Sun-Times, the Bears don’t have ideal personnel to run that offense.  They’d want more, better wide receivers and the tight end isn’t a big part of the offense.  Greg Olsen might go to waste.

Third, Martz has got a reputation for having his QBs take five and seven step drops with less than adequate protection.  Angelo wouldn’t be thrilled with the idea of having Jay Cutler end up like Mark Bulger, who was and is hurt a lot and is now incredibly gun shy.  Kurt Warner played hurt his last couple years in St. Louis and not particularly well.

The guess here is that Cutler will be more like former Lions QB Jon Kitna than Bulger.  Cutler got hit a lot this year and, though he didn’t look thrilled and though it did affect him at times, I think he came through it pretty well both physically and mentally.

I thought from the beginning that Martz was the right choice for this position.  The point about the offense being complicated is well taken – all of the points above are well taken – but at this point I’d rather see the Bears go with the best guy available and take the risk that the turn around will be too slow to result in a playoff birth next year than see them settle for an inferior coach.  As one scout put it to Hayes:

“There aren’t 32 better offensive coordinators in the league.  There might be three or four, but that’s about it.”

It seems to me like the Bears need to cut through the peripheral issues surrounding this hire and get to the bottom line.  It isn’t a question of what you are hiring.   It’s a question of who.  If you hire the best man available, someone truly worthy of the position, he’ll deal with the job as it is and adapt his philosophy to make things work the best way that they can.  Mike Martz is the best man available for the job.  He should get it.

Bears

• Well, if nothing else, today’s interviewee for the Bears offensive coordinator position has some experience.  Rob Chudzinski was the Brown’s offensive coordinator for two years and went 10-6 his first season in the job.  His offense ranked 8th in the NFL that year (they were 31st the year before).  That alone might make him the top candidate so far.  He runs the West Coast offense that QB Jay Cutler is familiar with.  He’s also worked with the best tight ends in the NFL (that’s not an exaggeration), making him a good fit for Greg Olsen.  Jeff Dickerson at ESPNChicago.com thinks they should offer him a contract before he boards the plane to leave town.

On the down side, Cleveland was 4-12 his second year as coordinator and they fell back to 31st in the league in offense.  Still, its clear that the Bears could do worse.

• Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times interviewed long time NFL QB Rich Gannon, who recommended Paul Hackett for the Bears offensive coordinator job.

“‘He taught me how to play the position,’ Gannon said. ‘I learned all about footwork and timing and protections. That’s really where my game took off. There’s nobody better to prepare a guy to play each week than this guy. He’s up there with [Jon] Gruden and Sean Payton. He worked with Joe Montana and Chad Pennington. With him, we always had a good running game and he was real good at coaching the quarterback.”

Lions

• Mel Kiper has the Lions taking Gerald McCoy with the second pick in the draft.  Assuming they don’t trade down, this is pretty clerarly the pick to make.

Elsewhere

• Fox Sports Radio host, Ben Maller, celebrates an unusual anniversary.  He was fired last year on January 20.  But it has a happy ending.  Kind of…

“After 6 months and 26 days of ‘vacation’ from Fox Sports Radio, [I] was asked back to provide weekend workers, drunks, freaks and insomniacs quality sports talk radio.”

I represent that.

• Apparently recent events have people speculating that the Buffalo Bills are trying to pull what the Cleveland Indians were trying to do in the movie, Major League.

“The theory is simple, hire a retread coach (Chan Gailey) who creates no buzz, turn your fan base off and eventually they stop caring (Buffalo). Then the team won’t look as bad packing up the moving vans to a new city (Los Angeles).”

• According to Kevin Acee at the San Diego Union Tribune, there were some San Diego Chargers out partying into Friday night/Saturday morning before their loss to the Jets.  Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com comments:

“It probably wouldn’t have made a difference if they’d stayed in.  But the fact that they saw fit to go out two nights before the biggest game of the season speaks to a mindset that makes the loss more understandable in hindsight.”

Couldn’t agree more.

One Final Thought

The Jaguars have hired a new defensive line coach.  Pete Prisco at CBS Sportline tweets:

“If Joe Cullen can get the Jaguars to improve their pass rush, fans will drive him through the Wendy’s naked.”

Bears

• Rick Morrissey at the Chicago Sun-Times on Jay Cutler participating in the offensive coordinator interviews:

“Cutler doesn’t need a friend in the offensive coordinator job, nor does he need someone who thinks like he does. He needs someone who will stand nose hair to nose hair with him and tell him his play is unacceptable. If someone did that last season, we missed it.”

Cutler’s there because the Bears want to hire someone he can work with.  If they don’t do that, they’re in deep trouble no matter what they do.  In support of that notion, we have Neil Hayes, also at the Sun-Times, interviewing former NFL QB Rich Gannon:

“He [Gannon] insists the key to playing quarterback is having a comfort level with the system and with the person responsible for calling the plays, whether that be a quarterbacks coach, a coordinator or the head coach. He didn’t see that with Cutler this season and fears he might not for some time because the Bears may be setting their franchise quarterback up to fail.”

“‘I look at the situation in Chicago, and that’s a team screaming for somebody to not only be play-caller but to coach that position,’ Gannon said. ‘The quarterback and play-caller have to be joined at the hip. Look at all the dynamic combinations right now — Tom Moore and Peyton Manning, Sean Payton and Drew Brees — and you can see how it’s really important.’”

Sure, you’d like a QB who can work with anyone you hire.  But that’s obviously not the case here.  You deal with people as they are, not as you would have them be.

• Mike Mulligan at the Sun-Times summarizes my own current attitude towards the Bears coaching searches – in one concise sentence.  Impressive.

“The Bears plod onward in their graceless, eternal search for coordinators while the rest of the football world prepares for a couple of conference championship games that go a long way toward revealing just how important coaching is in the NFL.”

Right now the optimist in me is saying that Lovie Smith knows exactly who he wants to hire for his coordinators and that he is waiting because they are on the Indianapolis Colts’ staff.  The pessimist in me is saying that Smith is wandering aimlessly waiting for good people to fall into his lap.  Which only happens at strip clubs.  Depending on your definition of “good”.  Or so I hear…

Packers

• Attention, Bears.  Aaron Kampman is a free agent.  And he probably doesn’t want to continue playing in the 3-4.  Just sayin’…

Elsewhere

• Mike Florio at profootballtalk.com does a pretty good job of summarizing the current labor disagreement.  Its worth a read.  All I’ll say here is that no one is optimistic.
• According to Adam Schefter at ESPN (via Florio) the Raiders are interviewing Raiders quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson for an “unspecified position”.  Many thougth the Bears might take a look at Jackson for their offensive coordinator post.  Speculation is that the Raiders are interviewing him for head coach because the Ravens can’t refuse if that’s the case but that the position they really want to offer him about is offensive coordinator.  As Florio puts it:

“With owner Al Davis still committed to quarterback JaMarcus Russell, the challenge is to find a coaching staff that can find his buttons (under, you know, all the blubber) and push them.”

If that’s the case, they might as well give it up now.  The only thing that is going to make Russell into a professional football player is a heart transplant.

One Final Thought

Tom Kowalski at milive.com answers your questions:

“Los Lions: What most explains why our defensive rookies got so much playing time? Was it because they were NFL-ready and it was an exceptional draft? Was it because the coaches were thinking ahead and wanted them to gain experience? Or, was it more because the Lions were devoid of talent even compared to previous years? Would [Sammie] Hill, [DeAndre] Levy & [Louis] Delmas have played as rookies on Rod Marinelli’s team last year?

“Tom Kowalski: There are a lot of factors involved here. One, the talent was better. If the Lions had drafted Jordon Dizon this year instead of DeAndre Levy, I don’t think Dizon would’ve played such a significant role.

“Having said that, the coaching staff did two things with the talent they had – they didn’t baby them and “simplify” things in training camp. They dumped the whole package on them and made them learn it. In Levy’s case, they told him to learn three positions and it really slowed down his development. However, when he started to get it, he came on like gangbusters. The second thing the coaches did was put them on the field. In some cases, like Sammie Hill, they had no choice. In all cases, though, they stayed on the field because they earned it.”

I will only say that this stands in stark contrast with the Bears attitude towards their rookies.  It could be that the Bears have more of a “win now” attitude, of course.  But more and more, winning now means getting your rookies to make rapid contributions.  You have to wonder if the Bears are different because they have too many “Jordan Dizon’s” or if Smith is stunting their growth or both.

Bears

• Neil Hayes at the Chicago Sun-Times goes through the Bears’ options at defensive end in the wake of the Gaines Adams tragedy.  They aren’t good.
• Elliott Harris, also at the Sun-Times, has NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith ejaculating more worthless rhetoric like Nero fiddling while Rome burns.
• Though he turned around the Bronco defense and though he’d be a great choice, I think everyone would be shocked if Lovie Smith departed from his comfort zone so far as to consider Mike Nolan for the Bears defensive coordinator job.
• Jeff Dickerson at ESPN suggests something that has also crossed my mind the last few days:

“…is anybody else interested in seeing if Thomas Jones will be cut loose by the New York Jets this offseason? It’s tough to say what kind of relationship Jones has with the people upstairs at Halas Hall, but in the locker room, he still commands the respect of his peers. How much better would the Bears be in 2010 with a backfield consisting of Jones and Matt Forte.”

Willis McGahee might look good in a Bears uniform, as well.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune points out that all you need to do is look at the final eight playoff teams to see why building your offense around an elite quarterback is the key to NFL success.

“That’s why at the three-wise-men news conference two weeks ago, it was surprising to hear Lovie Smith talking about the need to run the football in terms of his search for an offensive coordinator. Yes, the Bears need to do a better job of running the ball, particularly in short-yardage situations. But what is paramount for the offense to improve is for the unit to be built around Cutler so he can blossom. It would have made more sense had he talked about Cutler being the building block where everything starts.

“Consider that three of the four remaining starting quarterbacks in the playoffs ranked in the top six in passer rating over the course of the regular season. [Mark] Sanchez, the rookie from Southern California, ranked 28th and was tied for second behind Cutler for the most interceptions.

“When you expand the look to the eight quarterbacks in the divisional round, again Sanchez was the only one who didn’t fit in.”

Lions

• Teams talk a lot about what players can do to improve from year to yeat but when Jim Schwartz was asked what he needed to do, the answer was a surprise:

“Keep my blood pressure down maybe a little bit.  I take pride in being even-keeled. I take pride in being the same way whether we win or lose. There have been some Mondays where obviously my temper was little bit shorter than others, and there are times that I’ve showed my displeasure with certain things that have happened on the field and things like that.

“But I’d like to be that head coach that is the same whether we’re winning or losing, the same whether we’re 10-1 or 1-10. I wasn’t that way this year, but it was me. I’ll work on it.”

Vikings

• Matt Bowen at the National Football Post breaks down one of the Vikings touchdowns in his scheme session column.  I’m enjoying these posts immensely.

One Final Thought

Jaime Samuelsen at the Detroit Free Press has an interesting take on what all four remaining playoff teams have in common:

“All four front offices have what the dictionary would show to be temerity and intelligence. But for the sake of this discussion, I’ll call guts and brains. There’s another word for guts that I’m thinking of here, but I’ll save the editors the time and simply leave it out. Each of these four teams has made at least one bold move that has been highly criticized, and so far, all have been proved correct.”

The Saints got Drew Brees, the Vikings got Brett Favre, the Jets got Sanchez, the Colts decided to rest.

If you accept this (and I do), then Bears GM Jerry Angelo stands with them shoulder to shoulder with the Jay Cutler trade.  No matter what happens I will always claim that he did the right thing and there is a legitimate argument to be made that the risks taken by these final four teams back that up.  Kudos to him.