[CBFF] Calling Bears cheap is right on the money

Tue Feb 27 09:37:55 MST 2007

I'm not going to read anything written by Mariotti but my guess is
that he's ultimately correct.  To not pay a coach who just took you to
the Super Bowl and back-to-back division titles fair market value is
pathetic.

RD

On 2/27/07, Kenny Claxton <kenny.claxton at gmail.com> wrote:
> Reading Jay Mariotti lowers your I.Q.
>
> On 2/27/07, mom2iancal <senzigx4 at charter.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > 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).
> >
> > <BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free
> > email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at
> > http://www.aol.com.
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> > __._,_.___ .
> > __,_._,___
> > _______________________________________________
> > Check out the CBFF Blog:
> > blog.chicagobearsfanforum.com
> > CBFF Homepage:
> > www.chicagobearsfanforum.com
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Check out the CBFF Blog:
> blog.chicagobearsfanforum.com
> CBFF Homepage:
> www.chicagobearsfanforum.com
>