I had the SCORE on in the background at work today and I managed to listen to much of the Bears news conference. While the team did not exactly follow the script I had posted here some 19 hours in advance, I didn't get much wrong.
Much of what I heard, even if it seemed eerily familiar, was troubling. There was a pathological incoherence present in the discombobulated press affair with the top brass trundled to the podium individually to apologize, accept blame, rationalize their existence and then answer obvious questions for which there seemed to be no preparation.
And the logic! We're dissatisfied with the overall performance in the past three years so we are keeping the three main architects in place. We let Lovie fire Ron Rivera and bring in his own guy and then take over the defense himself and those missteps make him qualified to choose the next defensive coordinator. The defense was so bad we were out of many games before the first half was over, so we're firing all of the offensive coaches. We made many key personnel evaluation missteps and we're changing little about the evaluation process.
We trust Lovie.
My first reaction that I Tweeted: "OVERALL ASSESSMENT: The Bears sound lost."
Take one exchange: Here's GM Jerry Angelo on the defense:
"There were games this year that were over by halftime. A big part of it was our defense. I'm concerned about that. We have issues that we have to deal with on defense. Scheme, personnel, yes, we don't have as many dominating players on defense to do the things we did in past years."
Next up was Lovie Smith:
"A lot is being placed on the [defensive] scheme. Every team in the league plays Cover 2; we're basically all playing the same thing. It's gap control. That's what defense is. The (new defensive coordinator) coming in, I would like for him to have some of the similar beliefs that I have."
Why? Because your philosophy was so successful?
And what does this all say about any potential changes to come? Lovie is still playing out his debate with Rivera about defensive schemes. The problem? Rivera has moved on and will be coaching his team in the playoffs while Lovie just had to fire himself because he couldn't do Rivera's old job.
I learned everything I needed to know when Angelo basically admitted that the Bears final two wins of the season sealed Smith's return as coach. Hmmmm...
Here's something I've not seen noted anywhere else: The Bears finished each of their last three pathetic seasons exactly the same way: With a 2-0 run.
Lovie Smith is not playing for the fans or the organization. Lovie Smith is playing for Lovie Smith and doing just barely enough to get by to earn his next $11 million from the Bears. And a team of naive rookies who just want to play and lazy veterans who like the cushy atmosphere at Lake Forest these days are enabling this arrogant, stubborn stain on the Bears great tradition.
The more I write, the more enraged I become. Shame on the Bears owners for not holding the architects of the current mess – Ted Phillips, Angelo and Smith – truly accountable by firing one or all of them.
Bears fans deserve better than the sham of a pity party that was allowed to be amateurishly played out in the auditorium at Halas Hall today. We can only hope that when that auditorium is again filled with media 365 days and at least nine more regular season losses from now, it will be to watch the organization thank Phillips, Angelo and Smith with some sort of lovely parting gift.
More later,
Mark
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