[CBFF] Angelo, Smith need to get their act together :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Mike Mulligan - Sent Using Google Toolbar

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Angelo, Smith need to get their act together :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Mike
Mulligan<http://www.suntimes.com/sports/mulligan/725594,CST-SPT-mully04.article#>

Angelo, Smith need to get their act together  IN CHARGE | Postseason news
conferences reveal Lovie's power

January 4, 2008
BY MIKE MULLIGAN <mmulligan at suntimes.com> mmulligan at suntimes.com

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo was run out in front of the local media
Thursday, and listening to him respond to -- but not exactly answer -- the
majority of the questions posed, you couldn't help but ask yourself why. Why
is the guy holding a news conference if the Bears haven't gone through their
formal meetings yet to determine their offseason plan? Angelo couldn't
really have said a lot even if he wanted to. Why force him to answer
questions he hasn't worked out the answers to yet?

Why wasn't Angelo brought out with coach Lovie Smith a few days earlier?
Wouldn't it have been easier to have both of them evaluate the offseason
instead of having Angelo ''echoing coach Lovie Smith's statements from
Monday,'' as the team's own Web site described the scene. One
public-relations type suggested Angelo was too busy monitoring the holiday
bowl games to meet with the media alongside Smith. Angelo didn't attend any
bowl games, mind you; he was just, according to the public-relations staff,
busy watching them.
Where was the president?

Why wasn't Ted Phillips, the team president, taking questions with Angelo on
Thursday? He's apparently on vacation, according to one team source. What
can you do? Phillips has kids, and there are natural breaks for family
vacations, so with the season over, he bolted town for a week. Nothing wrong
with that.
Getting separation

Still, although there is supposedly no tension at Halas Hall, with Phillips,
Angelo and Smith still operating in unison, you couldn't help but wonder if
it was merely happenstance that Smith had his say and then Angelo wasn't
available for another three days. Remember, when Smith signed his contract
extension last year, it was after Angelo and Phillips got new deals. Smith
still has four years and about $20 million left on his deal, which
presumably is a lot more than the combined salaries of Angelo and Phillips
over the same span. Angelo served as his own agent in negotiations and
reportedly accepted more years for less money. He's signed through 2013.
Phillips is believed to be on the same time frame.

Has there been a shift in power at Halas Hall? Can the answer be found in
Angelo's response to a question about Smith's statement that he wants his
coaching staff to return intact?

''Yes, I agree with that, and I know there's been a lot made of that,''
Angelo said. ''[Smith has] to feel comfortable with the people that he works
with every day, and that obviously is Lovie's call. He feels real good about
his staff. We've talked about that. We feel the problems that we have can be
corrected. We have made changes on our staff before.
Smith has fire power

''If that were what he felt was in our best interest, I'm sure he would have
done it. But again, he feels good about his staff. We've won with these
coaches, and we feel that the problems that we have -- as we go on, we need
to do more soul-searching, so to speak -- but when we do, we feel those
things can be corrected and be corrected with this staff.''

Smith, a source said, controls the right to hire and fire members of his
staff. He was given that power in his contract extension. Remember, when
Smith came to the Bears and couldn't pry Rod Marinelli out of Tampa Bay to
be his defensive coordinator, he wanted to give that job to Bob Babich. But
Angelo felt Babich lacked enough experience, and Ron Rivera was hired in
that role. Now Smith has the power to retain Babich, a guy he at one time
couldn't hire in the defensive coordinator role.

It's worth pointing out again that Angelo's reputation is as a consensus
builder. He shares decision making in terms of getting everybody on board
and listening to all voices. Smith is also regarded as a team player.

It could just be a coincidence that the two men appeared in distinctly
different roles this offseason -- Lovie as empowered coach, Jerry as the
personnel boss -- than in previous years. It also might signal a shifting of
power at Halas Hall.