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Bears

• Perry Fewell decided to take the defensive coordinator position with the Giants rather than the Bears.  I don’t think anyone blames him.  He’ll be marginally more secure there.  I’m not too broken up over this.  Lovie Smith has lots of other friends that I think will be able to fill the position as a place holder.
• Mike Mulligan at the Chicago Sun-Times does a good job of summarizing the status of the coordinator search.  I think he’s spot on when he says that recent developments might turn out to be positive in the end:

“While you couldn’t call the coordinator search inspirational, you can’t deem it a disaster, either. What have the Bears lost thus far? Jeremy Bates on offense and Perry Fewell on defense. That takes them out of a comfort zone, and when that happens, there are two ways to go — shrivel up and die or embrace the creative tension and find the best in yourself.”

Also, in contrast to my acid comment above, Mulligan thinks the defensive coordinator might be able to bring more of himself to the position than we suspect:

“The perception is that the Bears are looking for an offensive coordinator to provide substance and effectively run half the team while searching for a defensive coordinator whose job will be little more than decoration under Smith’s tutelage. In fact, sources said Smith told Fewell that he’s willing to allow flexibility and latitude within the scheme. Since there are only a handful of teams running the gap-control scheme highlighting the cover-2 in passing situations, don’t be surprised if the Bears wind up promoting from within, perhaps defensive backs coach Jon Hoke or defensive line coach Rod Marinelli.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bears looked to the Colts coaching staff after their playoff run is done.  They’ve been fairly creative this year in morphing their cover-2 scheme into something a bit different and more effective.  Sean Jensen, also at the Sun-Times, has a list of candidates.

• David Haugh at the Chicago Tribune is less optimistic about the search.  He seems to believe that it is limited by a combination of Smith’s apparent one-and-done status as head coach and the fact that the Bears don’t know what they’re looking for, especially on the offensive side.

I agree with both points and think that the offensive coordinator candidate in particular better have one thing above all others:  vision.  He’d better know exactly what he wants to do and how he wants to do it because based upon the haphazard way that they are approaching things, it’s evident that Jerry Angelo and Smith don’t have a clue as to what they are looking for.  Unlike the situation on the personnel side of the organization, it appears to me like Smith had no plan beyond firing Ron Turner.  If he did, he would have zeroed in on the candidate which he had in mind immediately.

Again, the one qualification that I’ll allow is that they may be waiting for a coach who is still in a playoff run.  But if they hire someone who is currently available after weeks of searching, we’ll know the where the problem lies.

Lions

• I don’t think anyone figured it was going to happen but Bobby April won’t be coming to Detroit as special teams coordinator.  A number of special teams coaches were fired around the league after the season ended and April had a lot of better options.
• Tim Kowalski at mlive.com answers your questions:

“George: What does the LB situation look like for next year? Does anyone get traded? Do we keep Julian Peterson with the big contract? Is it possible we draft LB at all this year?

“Tom Kowalski: The only three linebackers who will definitely be back – to me – are Ernie Sims, DeAndre Levy and Zack Follett. I think the Lions want Larry Foote back because of all the intangibles he brings, but I think it also has to be with the understanding that he may face some serious competition for the starting job. Levy is going to be a starter somewhere in that lineup.

Peterson’s situation is interesting because he’s making $7.5 million next year (and will make a combined $16.5 million in the following two years). My guess is that the Lions don’t want to pay that much and I don’t think Peterson is willing to take a pay cut. It will boil down to whether the Lions believe they can’t afford to lose him.

“So, yes, it’s very possible the Lions will draft a linebacker this season.”

The Lions might draft one but will it be high enough to make a difference?  The team has a lot of needs.  If one falls to them in the early rounds that GM Martin Mayhew thinks is a really good value, maybe.

• Another good one from Kowalski, this time answering a question about what’s different about the Lions draft with Mayhew in charge:

“Mayhew [has] said the arguments are all made in the days leading up to the draft so when the Lions are on the clock, they know exactly who they’re going to take. I’ve often recounted the Brian Calhoun story, about how the Lions were debating about whether to take an offensive lineman at that spot in the third round. The argument was whether the Lions would be “reaching” for him at that spot. They went back and forth without resolution and then, as the clock was about to expire, a coach yelled ‘Take Brian Calhoun.’ And that’s what they did.”

Packers

• Michael Lombardi at the National Football Post thinks that GM Ted Thompson needs to get away from his apparent aversion to free agency:

“Yet here lies the problem for Thompson. He has a very good team that’s one solid offseason from competing for a Super Bowl title, but all his needs will not be met in just the draft. He has to be more open-minded in his approach to free agency and try to fix some of the current concerns on the team before the draft. He should really give great thought to trying to add a player of the caliber of the Panthers’ Julius Peppers. If Peppers is a free agent, he’ll command a huge pay day, but he would be a perfect fit coming off the edge to help Clay Matthews rush. One more blue-chip player would really make a difference to the Packers on defense.

“This is not to imply that Thompson should spend like a drunken sailor, but he should consider spending for quality. And he has to use every avenue available to improve his team because he can’t address every need in just the draft. He’s on the cusp of something very good in Green Bay, and he needs to just make a few moves to get this team over the top.”

• Pete Dougherty at the Green Bay Press-Gazette reviews the performance of the special teams in 2009 and its not flattering.  It seems clear that the Packers are going to have to approach the draft with getting better performers in this area in the back of the minds.

Vikings

• Adrian Peterson tells Chip Scoggins at the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he’s not disappointed that he hasn’t gotten the ball more this year:

“If it takes us running the ball 25 times to get a ‘W,’ if it takes us throwing the ball 50 times to get a ‘W,’ it’s whatever it takes to win.  At the end of the day, when we’re playing next week, it’s not going to be, ‘Oh, Peterson had 200 yards or Brett [Favre] threw for this many yards.’ It’s going to be ‘the Vikings win,’ and we’re playing in the NFC Championship Game.”

Peterson needs to tell that to Brad Childress.

Elsewhere

• The New York Daily News quotes Jerome Bettis as saying that Bill Cowher is holding out for the Giants job.  I get so tired of hearing Bears fans pepper the Internet over and over again with “Hire Cowher.  Hire Cowher.  Hire Cowher.”  Earth to fans.  Hello?  Cowher wants control over personnel.  1)  He’s never done anything that indicates that he could handle that.  2)  That means Jerry Angelo has to move out of the way.

‘aint happening.

• Add Sherman Smith to the list of Bear offensive coordinator candidates.  The current running game coordinator, according to Jason Reid of the Washington Post he won’t be retained by the Redskins.
• Speaking of the Redskins, the word “dyfunctional” just does’t begin to describe it.  Brad Biggs, writing for the National Football Post, makes a very good point about Albert Haynesworth.  Haynesworth complained bitterly about defensive coordinator Greg Blache‘s scheme.  Blache has retired but you have to wonder if Hayesworth isn’t going to be pining for the good old days of 2009 next season with the Redskins apparently making the transition to the 3-4 defense.  Haynesworth will probably be asked to play the very unglamorous position of nose guard.

Is there anyone associated with that organization who has given any thought to what the heck is going on?  I mean how can you pay a guy $100 million and not at least consider what kind of defense he’s going to fit best in?

One Final Thought

The NFL finally got around to presenting the entire reason why Pat and Kevin Williams don’t have a leg to stand on in state court:

“Kevin Williams and Pat Williams admitted to violating the policy by using StarCaps to lose weight the night before weigh-ins,” [NFL attorney Daniel] Nash said. “An employee cannot avoid discipline by relying on [the Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act] when they’ve admitted violating the policy.”

Translation:  you can’t demand a second test, can’t demand anything, when you admitted your guilt.  Bottom line.  Game over.  Dead on and I think everyone knows it.

The Williams are fighting a delaying action at best because eventually they are going to lose this case and, if Pat Williams doesn’t retire first, they’re going have to pay.  The only reason that they haven’t yet is because the NFL doesn’t want a state court to have to make the decision.  If they accept that authority, they have to worry about every piddling little state law that comes around and contradicts their national, collectively bargained policy.  So they can’t just win by saying, “Look, they admitted that they’re guilty.”  They need to also win by establishing that federal labor laws supersede the state claims.  Otherwise this thing is going to the Supreme Court.

Frankly, I have nothing but contempt for these guys.  They are trying to wreak havoc with the drug policy in an effort to get a case heard that they are eventually going to lose anyway.  It’s all in an effort to avoid personal responsibility for simply doing the wrong thing.

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