[CBFF] ChicagoSports.com: A long winter of ... content? - Sent Using Google Toolbar

[Tom Shannon]

ChicagoSports.com: A long winter of ... content?





 /sports/football/bears/cs-071231chicagobearsdavidhaugh,0,7917646.column
A long winter of ... content?
 Smith's stand-pat stance is all wrong for team that's in need of shake-up
 David Haugh
 On the Bears

 January 1, 2008

 Tuesday's two-minute drill ...

 When Lovie Smith insists the Bears are not that far from being Super
Bowl contenders, he really isn't watching film through a rearview
mirror that warns everything is closer than it appears.

 But the misperception could be a dangerous one for Smith.

 In his season-ending news conference Monday at Halas Hall, Smith
announced he wanted every assistant coach on his staff to return and
preferred to welcome back every player on the roster if possible too.

 "All of the players that could possibly be in that position I would
like to have back," Smith said. "I feel like we have a good thing
going here."

 How the coach of a 7-9 team could seem so content with a roster full
of veterans who underachieved and young players who fell short of
expectations caused more than a few heads to shake around Chicago. Had
Smith been as satisfied with the status quo after the 2007 Super Bowl
when the Bears actually earned the benefit of the doubt, players might
never have been in a position of cleaning out their lockers on the eve
of 2008.

 "I would like to see our coaching staff come back intact," Smith
added. "It's the same coaching staff for the most part that led us to
a Super Bowl, [and] I feel like it can lead us back to another. ... We
would like to bring this group [of players] back together the best we
can."

 That was the stand-pat message many expected Smith to deliver last
February with the Bears coming off a Super Bowl appearance and needing
just a few tweaks to ensure a return. Instead, back then Smith asked
for public trust and fired defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, signed
off on the trade of running back Thomas Jones, essentially replaced
safety Chris Harris with Adam Archuleta and dramatically altered the
dynamic of a Super Bowl contender.

 To his credit, Smith did accept full responsibility for a season that
fell short of Super Bowl expectations. But when shifting focus away
from his own accountability, Smith sounded like a head coach who held
injuries more responsible for the collapse than any letdown by a
position area or specific players.

 If neither the staff nor the players were the problem, what was? If
Smith or Jerry Angelo don't hold assistant coaches and players more
accountable behind closed doors for the NFL's most disappointing
season, they could be enabling a second straight rough year.

 In Smith's most puzzling explanation Monday, he rationalized that the
Bears' 28th-ranked defense under new coordinator Bob Babich that came
within 55 yards of setting a franchise high for most yards allowed was
in better shape now than Rivera's fifth-ranked unit was at the end of
last season.

 "We would like to have better numbers from our defense, but at the
end of the year I think we're headed back in the right direction,"
Smith said. "I've heard the numbers about last year, how we were
ranked fifth. At the end of the year last year, we weren't playing
great defense. At the end of the year this year, I feel like we are
playing good defense."

 Smith also expressed hope at bringing safety Mike Brown back to lead
that defense, drawing a parallel to NBA star Grant Hill's longevity
through various injuries. Hill, it should be pointed out, is on his
third team because the first two eventually lost patience waiting for
him to stay healthy.

 "Mike has had different injuries but it hasn't been the same one," Smith said.

 Of Rex Grossman, Smith volunteered that he wants him back in Chicago
to compete for the starting quarterback position on a muddled depth
chart. That makes sense given all the other problems Smith glossed
over and the state of quarterbacking in the NFL. Of the three Bears
quarterbacks who dressed Sunday, only Kyle Orton seems to be a roster
lock to compete for a job at training camp.

 Besides safety and quarterback, the other positions Smith singled out
as concerns were running back and offensive line. Objectively, both
require major more than minor changes.

 "We are a running football team," Smith said.

 Really?

 Again Monday, there appeared to be a big disconnect between what the
Bears think they are and what they actually are, between their
perception of themselves and reality. From here, that could be as big
of an off-season issue to address as the running game.

 "We're 7-9, so there are a lot of things to clean up," Smith said.

 So why did Smith sound so much like a coach prepared for little more
than light dusting?

 Elsewhere ...

 Leaning on crutches after just having a cast removed, Cedric Benson
reported his broken lower left leg was improving well enough to start
running in eight weeks.

 Still smarting from criticism, Benson dismissed the idea that he
reported to training camp out of shape and downplayed his own role in
the struggles of the running game, saying "football takes a team."

 "I didn't come in this off-season out of shape or overweight or
anything like that," Benson said. "I came in great football shape
ready to play. ... Obviously, we weren't the team we thought we were
coming in here."

 Asked if he would be surprised to receive competition next season
from either a free-agent or rookie running back, Benson smiled.

 "I've had it before," he said. "I've always had competition around
here. Maybe some- body else will get the criticism [then]. Surprised,
no I wouldn't be. I think it'd be a waste of time, but I wouldn't be
surprised." ...

 The NFL released the opponents on the Bears' schedule Monday,
revealing road games at Indianapolis, Atlanta, Carolina and Houston in
addition to NFC North trips. At home, the Bears play host to New
Orleans, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Jacksonville and Tennessee in
addition to the usual divisional foes.

 The Bears better hope the league schedules Jacksonville or Tennessee
in December. Tampa Bay and New Orleans will be no Soldier Field picnic
either. Road games against Indianapolis, Carolina and Houston will be
hard to chalk up as projected Bears wins.

 Then there are the opponents in the NFC North, where Green Bay and
Minnesota look like they will keep improving.

 Are there 10 victories for the Bears on that schedule? If the
approach and roster change as little as Smith implied Monday, no. If
they subtract and add intelligently, maybe. Check back in April. ...

 So what did you learn most this season, Adewale Ogunleye? "We learned
the kind of guys you can depend on ... without going through names,
you can just go through the guys who play hard," Ogunleye said.

 Ogunleye proved to be one of those guys, putting up Pro Bowl-caliber
numbers with nine sacks and three fumble recoveries. He is not one of
the people he was referring to when discussing the uncertainty that
loomed. "If you didn't prove yourself this off-season, it might be a
scary one for you," Ogunleye said. ...

 Archuleta didn't start the final five games of the season, the second
straight year he has been demoted during the second half. Say this
about Archuleta: He missed many tackles but never missed the
opportunity to face the scrutiny. There he was again Monday, facing an
uncertain future that could include the Bears releasing him. "I'm a
firm believer that what's supposed to happen will happen," he said.
"I've made my bed and I'm going to lie in it. I'll take it in stride,
whatever happens." ...

 Happy New Year, Bears fans: Only 117 days left until the April 26 NFL
draft. The Bears pick 14th, which means due to the changes this year,
they will making their selection around 4:20 p.m.—unless Angelo trades
down well past dinner.

 dhaugh at tribune.com

 Copyright (c) 2007, The Chicago Tribune