Bears Blitz

Published by Darrell Horwitz on January 6, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Watching team president (accountant) Ted Phillips standing up at the podium representing the accounting firm of McCaskey and McCaskey made my mind drift back to the Academy Awards as I awaited him ripping open the envelope and announcing, and the winner is…

As it turns out, the winners were Phillips, GM Jerry Angelo, and head coach Lovie Smith. The losers were Chicago Bear fans who are going to be stuck with this regime for at least one more year.

I was hopeful at the beginning as Phillips came out talking tough saying, “In the last three years, it was clear that no one did a good enough job.” He continued on, “We’ve had three season of no playoffs, so status quo was not an option and changes were necessary.”

After he finished the firings, including I believe the bus boy that works in the players lounge, I was flustered.

What happened to the no one did a good enough job comment? I think he meant no one did a good enough job, so we’re going to get rid of the little people that didn’t really have as much to do with our poor season as the three stooges standing up here today.

This was not “change you can believe in.”

After hearing the rhetoric about the status quo, that is exactly what we got.

He let go of offensive coordinator Ron Turner along with the quarterback coach, the offensive line coach. the tight end coach, and a couple of assistant coaches.

Phillips was in charge of deciding who stays and who goes. He reports to eighty-seven year old team owner Virginia McCaskey and her son Michael, who she banished from the presidency years ago when he botched a coaching hire.

Phillips is the guy who hired an outside agency to help him search for the general manager, which led to the hiring of Jerry Angelo. He had worked for years for the Bears as the team accountant before being appointed president by Virginia.

What I’m wondering is if he consulted that same firm to determine who he should get rid of because WHAT DOES HE KNOW ABOUT FOOTBALL?

Who is running this asylum?

Virginia and Michael don’t know enough about the game to make the decisions, but they did come out with an ad in both Chicago dailies on Monday thanking the fans for their support of the team throughout the year.

In their ad, they said that you (the fans) demanded the same excellence this organization demands of itself. They concluded with “Winning is and always will be our top priority and we will not rest until we bring a championship back to Chicago.”

Those were just words after what happened the next day.

Ted Phillips was quick to mention that money had nothing to do with the decision. With that statement, he was trying to head off the lynch mob he knew was coming for him to address that issue.

I’m sure the $11 million Lovie Smith had coming to him for the final two years of his contract along with the cost of hiring a new head coach had nothing to do with the decision.

You would think Lovie would be a bit contrite after his third straight year of failing to make the playoffs but he continued to back his cover-2 defense saying, “I think you need to stay with what you believe on how you want to win football games and we’re not going to change the scheme.”

He went on to say that the defense was good enough to get them to the Super Bowl in 2006. That thought actually has me excited.

That’s because I heard they’re considering going back to the T-formation they used to crush the Washington Redskins 73-0 in 1940 for the league championship. It worked before, so why can’t it work now?

So the search is on for a new offensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator (lackey) to run that position since Lovie has stepped down from calling the defense.

Unfortunately, Smith is in charge of deciding on who he is going to work with, and based on his history of hiring assistants, we’ll be back at this same venue next year for the real firing.

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