jersey cubs fan

I don't know what's going to happen. I do know that Martz didn't want Hanie, that Angelo essentially forced Hanie on Martz, and that the 2011 season was lost the second Hanie stepped foot on the field. On the surface it looks to me that Jerry lost a power struggle and that Lovie will get one more chance. It makes plenty of sense to bring back Martz in that situation. But that assumes Lovie and Martz got along. There were reports each of the last 2 years that Lovie was not OK with the run/pass ratio early in the seasons. Playcalling has been an issue. Getting play calls in from him up in the booth has been an issue. It took Lovie half a decade to wake up to the fact that this is a passing league, but I think he finally did, even if he doesn't like it. You don't win running the ball. But the Bears actually did run the ball. There are issues, but if the situation is that Jerry is out but Lovie is staying, I'm guessing it has a lot to do with Caleb Hanie, and Lovie will only have one year to make things right. It doesn't make sense to have Lovie find a new offensive coordinator in that situation.

What?

I don't know what's going to happen. I do know that Martz didn't want Hanie, that Angelo essentially forced Hanie on Martz, and that the 2011 season was lost the second Hanie stepped foot on the field. On the surface it looks to me that Jerry lost a power struggle and that Lovie will get one more chance. It makes plenty of sense to bring back Martz in that situation. I don't see the evidence that Martz and Lovie were aligned in some kind of power struggle against Angelo. Maybe either of them individually but I never got the impression that Martz and Lovie were some strong tandem. I think Martz is gone. It's not about evidence, it's making inferences based on common sense. Lovie obviously has a sense of a loyalty to Martz. If Lovie has one year to make it work without a real GM as his boss, it doesn't make much sense to start over on offense. The offense was fine with Cutler healthy, it only sucked when Martz was forced to use a guy he wanted nothing to do with. All the over-the-top anger toward Martz was misdirected in my opinion. He had garbage linemen and WR to work with and made it work until the franchise QB went down. If they are cleaning house all around, then fine, but Lovie's had a lot of chances to make his coaching staff work, I'm not counting on him getting anyone any better, at all.

A big name GM? I have a lot of doubts they will. A big name GM won't settle for being told he has to keep the coach. And I think the Bears organization loves Lovie. Maybe I'm wrong and George is desperate to get his mom a title before she dies. But it shouldn't be hard for Lovie, Martz and a personel guy to recruit any free agent WR, if they want one. i hope you're right. but i think we'll need someone upstairs to put a package together to move up in the draft. i would give up our first this year and next next year and our second this year to take get blackmon. i have no idea if that would be acceptable, though. No thanks. That's a Cutler package. They already gave up 2 1st in recent years and they have far too many upcoming needs on defense to be giving away that many picks.

I don't know what's going to happen. I do know that Martz didn't want Hanie, that Angelo essentially forced Hanie on Martz, and that the 2011 season was lost the second Hanie stepped foot on the field. On the surface it looks to me that Jerry lost a power struggle and that Lovie will get one more chance. It makes plenty of sense to bring back Martz in that situation.

A big name GM? I have a lot of doubts they will. A big name GM won't settle for being told he has to keep the coach. And I think the Bears organization loves Lovie. Maybe I'm wrong and George is desperate to get his mom a title before she dies. But it shouldn't be hard for Lovie, Martz and a personel guy to recruit any free agent WR, if they want one.

Jerry had his "hits", for sure. But he missed big recently. He really screwed the pooch on the post-lockout free agency, didn't get any FA's for OL, and ended up with Roy Williams, Marion Barber, and a punter (full credit for Podlesh). He may have gotten Peppers two years ago, but he also spent a lot of money on Taylor and Manumaleuna. He spent like $3 million on Meriweather mid-season, he clearly misjudged Hanie's abilities as a backup, and I can't imagine that the whole Sam Hurd situation helped Angelo's cause any. I'm not saying the guy is without flaws. I'm saying he built a good team and the the Bears have done well under Lovie and Jerry. Plus, there are a hell of a lot of worse football people out there. Football isn't filled with a bunch of Theos.

My money is that it has to do with Lovie/Martz vs Jerry/Caleb. This season ended when Caleb Hanie stepped on the field and Jerry pushed him on Martz, who did not want him at all. They will go with Lovie/Martz/Tice/Marinelli and have some internal guy be the vice president of player personel or some such thing. If it goes well, Lovie will have a chance to hire his "boss", if it doesn't, they will hire a new guy next year and clean house.

Let's not forget Jerry had 3 QBs who he acquired running teams this year. He also had two drafted RBs as franchise backs in Benson and Forte, plus Thomas Jones was somebody who he acquired for the right price at the right time in his career. Jerry wasn't incompetent in the least. He got guys, but Lovie's coaching staff struggled to get the most out of a few of them. He did a very bad job identifying the need to draft offensive linemen between the Columbo and Williams picks, which was something the Bucs struggled with as well during his tenure there.

Scouting, I actually don't have a problem with. The Bears have done a decent job with late round picks, where scouting really comes into play. Melton was a RB/DE in college and led the league in sacks by DTs this year. Lance Louis was a college TE. Knox, Moore, etc. Eh, scouting is pretty huge in the first 2-3 rounds. Outside of the top 5, it takes scouting more than worldwide consensus to decide who is worthy.

So Phillips made this decision? It says he informed Angelo. George could have sent him on an errand.

Carimi didn't have red flags. He and Williams were both consensus worthy of being picked where they were. And Tommie Harris? Give me a break. Angelo screwed the pooch in the post super bowl draft (when Lovie was given additional power in the organization) with reaches on guys like Bazuin and Wolfe that wasted picks that needed to go to rebuilding the offensive line.

As annoying as things have been in the down times, the worse they have done in the Lovie/Jerry era has been 7-9. There's a hell of a lot of 4-12 type teams out there every year, and the Bears were never close to being that bad since Jerry was allowed to bring in his own coach. They averaged about 9 wins a year together, won three division titles, made two NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl. They would have easily won a playoff spot this year with a healthy Cutler. They stand up favorably to the Vikings and Lions during that time, same with the Cowboys, Redskins, Bucs, Cardinals, Falcons, Rams, Eagles, Seahawks, 49ers and Panthers. Really only the Giants, Saints and Packers have been better in the NFC during the era, and most of the AFC has been worse as well. They've done well. Not good enough of course, but there's a lot worse out there. This isn't Jim Hendry with resources that dwarf his competition in the division. I would be very concerned with who they wind up bringing in to replace him (if they do at all), especially considering the dark year of the Wanny/Jauron era that preceded Lovie/Jerry. About the talent level comment. I think this was easily the most talented team in the NFC in 2006. Lovie didn't get more out of them than what they were. He typically got as much as you could expect, but I don't think they ever outperformed reality.

No other changes could mean, "at this time", or it could mean they won't be replacing Jerry with an outside GM, or there's a slight chance they will hire a new GM who will be told he's got to work with Lovie in year 1. Angelo had to work with Jauron for 3 years before he was canned.

I watched the final 20, it was really entertaining.

Hey, maybe the Cubs might could figure out this rebuild thing.

You should. You really should. There are a hell of a lot of football people who have done worse than Jerry Angelo.

Sure, there's room for improvement, but in a salary cap league the Bears did well under Angelo. A lot of other guys have done a lot worse with the same resources that he had. On the bright side, the new guy doesn't have to acquire a franchise QB (the toughest thing for personel people to do). But we still don't know that there will be a new guy running things.

Yeah, the old "didn't have a 2nd QB issue" was always hanging over his head.

I went to Jets/Dolphins, wow, that was hilariously bad football. Not high school ugly football like Bears/Broncos, but legitimately hilariously bad. On one Jets drive the teams took turns with illegal procedure/offsides penalties early on, then the Jets added two more illegal procedures. There were 7 turnovers. Sanchez threw 2 INTs to defensive linemen. There was another pass caught by an offensive linemen and apparently fumbled (eventaully overturned) before Jason Taylor returned it for a TD despite fumbling it himself in a game whose main feature was over the top ridiculous tributes to Jason Taylor, and him going out of his way to be seen on the jumbotron at all times (he never stood by anybody and seemingly only wore his helmet during plays). Plus, Dolphins fans are probably the most pathetic in sports, but they do provide an ample supply of scantily clad off duty trophy wives/strippers in the audience.

Yeah, they were obvious potential candidates even prior to Angelo being dismissed. I was thinking yesterday they might be hired to replace Philips. Now, who knows, but it could be scary to have them running the whole thing.

It'll be tough to go the "Cubs route" in the NFL with no minor leagues. I'm just excited because I hated Angelo's draft strategy. Specifically I'm talking about a guy who won't be motivated to WIN NOW in Urlacher/Peppers/Briggs potential last year of being good, and who may not be married to the idea of winning with Cutler. There's definitely people in football who don't like Jay.

This might be a sign of Lovie/Martz winning some sort of power struggle inside the organization. Jerry was the one who pushed Caleb Hanie on people. Martz clearly never wanted anything to do with the kid, but Jerry refused to give him another veteran this year (a move I supported). Jerry gave Tice garbage to work with on the line and nothing to work with at receiver. This move may only signal that Jerry is out and Lovie/Martz/Tice/Marinelli will have one last go of making it work with some sort of player personel guy running the draft and signing guys, as opposed to a new real GM.

That's called overkill. You don't need to go into the season with a veteran backup and another veteran to back him up. I'm much more interested in constantly replenishing the QB position through mid-to-late round draft picks. Cutler is in-line for a substantial raise soon, and I don't want to spend too much of the cap on backup QBs. I'm not all that ecstatic about Angelo being gone, he was no Hendry. The Bears were pretty good under his watch, and they would have had a great season this year if his biggest acquisition, Cutler, didn't get hurt. But there is definitely plenty of room for improvement throughout the organization. I'd hate to see the new group try and go the Cubs way and unnecessarily start from scratch. I'm also skeptical about "the new group" being anything more than a slight transition from within. Ted Philips is to the Bears what so many people think Crane Kenney is to the Cubs. He's an accountant who has too much impact on the football side of the business.