[CBFF] Calling Bears cheap is right on the money

[mom2iancal]

Calling Bears cheap is right on the money 

February 27, 2007 

BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist 

What's next at Halas Hall, a shaved head and a ratty wig? I don't want to 
describe the Bears as the Britney Spears of the 2007 sports year, but they're 
perfectly capable of blowing all their credibility and couth with dizbrain 
thinking. A quality organization would have rewarded Lovie Smith long ago, paid 
Lance Briggs, pacified Thomas Jones and not made another silly blanket 
commitment to Rex Grossman, whose raggedy reputation was further singed by an 
indicting Indianapolis sound bite during the Super Bowl debacle. 

''He's scared to death,'' noted Colts defensive line coach John Teerlinck, 
echoing the world's thoughts on a waterlogged evening when Prince showed more 
poise then Rexy. 

But the Bears are not a quality organization. At a time when stable 
leadership is critical to mending wounds and keeping eyeballs on another NFC title, 
they are proving to be cheap, petty, shortsighted and all those nasty things 
we've always said about the McCaskeys and the former tax accountant who serves 
as their financial henchman, Ted Phillips. Oh, and might I add deceptive? 
When the Bears demanded public financing for the Soldier Field renovation, then 
asked fans to buy seat licenses, they did so because they needed to 
''compete'' in the modern NFL. Subsequently, the franchise value ($945 million, Forbes 
magazine says) soared as quickly as earnings ($51.5 million in 2005). 

So where are the profits going? As yet, not to Smith, whose status as the 
league's lowest-paid head coach is more an embarrassment to Halas Hall than to 
him. No more a Teddy Bear at the negotiating table than George Halas was a 
Papa Bear, Phillips is setting the tone for a possible sour encore season by 
making Smith sweat through an absurd taffy pull. In virtually any other pro 
franchise, a coach who returns a team to the big game for the first time in 21 
years is merrily handed a market-value deal. In Smith's case, that should be 
at least $5 million a season, if not more, seeing how a rookie head coach, 
Atlanta's Bobby Petrino, just received $4.8 million a year, and two other 
coaches who took teams to Super Bowls and lost, Carolina's John Fox and Tennessee's 
Jeff Fisher, have cracked the $5 million mark. 

Tightwad Ted doesn't subscribe to this fairness doctrine. Despite the 
presence of the George S. Halas Trophy at Halas Hall -- the hardware Smith vowed to 
win for Virginia McCaskey, whose father bought the franchise for $100 -- 
Phillips prefers to lowball Smith with an offer below $3.5 million a year. That 
is about the amount offered to Nick Saban three years ago when he was still a 
college coach, a deal he fortunately turned down, making way for Smith's 
hire. I inject this because Phillips keeps referring to Smith's original 
contract as ''fair'' for a first-time NFL coach, which is bunk when he offered Saban 
nearly three times as much to become, um, a first-time NFL coach. Imagine 
being Lovie and knowing he's just now getting a similar offer to Saban's in 
2004, even though he reached a Super Bowl while Saban bombed out with the 
Dolphins. Most people won't weep for Lovie or start a salary fund, but if you're 
interested in the well-being of the Bears, this is distressing stuff. 

Lovie has all the leverage 

Already, management has sucked any redeeming joy from the season by making 
us wonder again about priorities. Is the aim to win a championship or have the 
highest profit margin? The last thing the Bears want to do is send a 
negative message to their players, but that's exactly what they've done in the Lovie 
saga. As it is, the vibes are bad in the case of Briggs, who should be 
locked up long-term via a lucrative deal under a cushy salary cap. Now they have 
to watch their coach and his agent, Frank Bauer, turn the squabble into a 
public brawl, which isn't Smith's style but certainly is necessary. 

''Ted can't bring himself to do what I think is right,'' Bauer told the 
Sun-Times. ''It's a situation where we're not close, and I feel it is going to 
take a miracle to get this thing broken open.'' 

I would urge Smith not to budge until his price is met. He has all the 
leverage, with even NFL people condemning the Bears for their Misers of the Midway 
approach. Should Phillips be crazy enough to let Smith enter the season as a 
lame duck, the Bears would be lampooned nationally for wrecking a great 
thing, just as they were lampooned when Michael McCaskey's buffoonery cost them 
Dave McGinnis. Anything less than a return to the Super Bowl would turn the 
town angrily against management and prompt another lame search for a cheap 
candidate. The season would be a miserable, nonstop Lovie watch. And not a soul 
would blame the coach, though general manager Jerry Angelo will blame the 
media. 

''It's big because you're making it big,'' said Angelo, who is about to sign 
his extension. ''You were having a dormant offseason. It gives you something 
to write about, something to talk about. You can get your conspiracy 
theories going.'' 

Truth be known, Jerry, the media would prefer to discuss how the Bears are 
committed to a championship after coming so close. They'd prefer to write that 
Smith is locked in, Briggs is happy and Jones won't be traded, a bad idea 
that Angelo is courting even though Cedric Benson is an injury liability, still 
unproven as a starting back and always a potential distraction. Most media 
preferred to see continuity within the coaching staff and a new, deserving 
deal for Ron Rivera, not a Smith-led purge of Rivera and other assistants that 
smacks of finger-pointing. They might like an open competition at quarterback, 
not the latest endorsement of Grossman. 

Bears figure to follow Seahawks 

But Halas Hall is stubborn this way. Never mind that memories are still 
fresh of the Dolphin Stadium interview room, where Muhsin Muhammad was dissing 
Grossman at a podium while Rex, a few feet away, wondered why Muhammad -- no 
world-class leaper -- couldn't soar for one of his misguided quails. Never mind 
that Grossman has been chided by media and fans nationwide, all convinced he 
isn't championship material. All together now: Rex is still the guy. And if 
Wade Wilson couldn't help tutor him, someone named Pep Hamilton will, dammit. 

Hate to break the news, but five of the last six Super Bowl losers didn't 
make the playoffs. Don't be shocked if the Bears fare like the exception to 
that trend, the Seattle Seahawks, as second-round losers. Last season was about 
Lovie Love, about a united team defending Rex and Tank Johnson when the 
masses were piling on. 

The love, I'm afraid, has been overwhelmed by dysfunction. 

Jay Mariotti is a regular on ''Around the Horn'' at 4 p.m. on ESPN. Send 
e-mail to _inbox at suntimes.com_ (mailto:inbox at suntimes.com) with name, hometown 
and daytime phone number (letters run Sunday).

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