However, from the Cardinals first possession, it was obvious that the defense had no chance at slowing down Warner and Co. and that was without All-Pro wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who was sidelined with an injury. The Cardinals ground game came into the contest averaging an embarrassing 65 yards per game, and ripped the Bears apart for 182 yards. In fact, the Cardinals set their season high in yards on the ground in the first half.
It was a thorough butt-kicking and one that proved the Bears are a lousy football team. In fact, if Jeff Reed and Olindo Mare make a couple of field goals, the Bears could be sitting here today as a 2-6 team, with their only wins over Detroit and Cleveland. The Bears are nowhere close to being a contending team, and they need to spend the rest of the 2009 season evaluating which players should stay and go as they attempt to build toward the future.
That starts with the head coach, who is so out of touch with reality that it's laughable. I have never been a fan of Lovie Smith, because of his inability to display any sense of honesty in his dealing with the fans and media. When his team plays poorly he refuses to ever call out a player or unit for poor performance. I am not asking him to be Mike Ditka, because he doesn't have that type of personality. But his failure to hold people accountable and his willingness to give out jobs to players before training camp and before they have earned is one of the reasons the Bears are where they are now.
So how do you fix it? You start by firing the head coach and hiring a no-nonsense guy who has a proven reputation as a winner. He must possess an ability to connect with the fan base and the media, and a willingness to roll up his sleeves and contribute years of expertise in personnel matters. Furthermore, he must be able to evaluate personnel well enough to take some of the responsibilities away from current GM Jerry Angelo. I'm not asking for the new coach to necessarily be the "architect" of this team, but Angelo has done a very poor job during his 8+ seasons in Lake Forest.
Angelo is under contract through 2013, so the thought that the Bears would pay both he and Smith is probably fantasy. So here's what I would do: fire Smith the day the season ends so I could have all available coach options available to me right away. I would also call Jerry Angelo into a meeting where he will be offered the chance to stay as GM, but he will also be asked to relinquish some of his power to the new Head Coach/Football Operations boss. Should he balk then he can quit. However, with a ton of money owed to him for four more seasons, I would be surprised if he walked away.
Bill Cowher would be a great choice as the Bears next coach.
Then, I would offer Bill Cowher whatever it took to land him, and I would make it clear that Chicago Bears football is back and is changing its image, effective immediately. Cowher is a proven winner, he would energize the fan base, and he is a tremendous motivator. With the right moves next spring, the Bears could put some of the necessary pieces in place around standout quarterback Jay Cutler. And they could start to rebuild a team that is obviously not responding to Lovie Smith.
More to come as we get the Pittsburgh point of view on Cowher next. Have a great day! Kap
19 Comments
cc002600 said:
Kap,
You obviously are letting your personal feelings toward Lovie influence your opinion. It's very obvious when you discuss him that you don't like him b/c he is very low-key. That's unfair. Who cares what he says to the media after the game ? Bill Bellicheck goes in front of the media after every game and mumbles a bunch of BS and doesn't say anything. How's he done in the last 7 or 8 years ? Please.
I'm not saying Lovie is the best coach, but this team has ZERO talent. That's Angelo's fault. And getting Cutler may have been a nice move, but guess what, a QB can't do it all by himself. I don't care who your QB is, if you can't stop the other team from scoring, it doesn't matter. So now they a franchise QB but nothing else... how's that working ?
Bad drafting + trading away draft picks = Disaster, train wreck
That's Angelo's fault.
If you really think Bill Cowher could come in here and win next year, I think you're dreaming.
If I were the Bears, I would start trading any player that has value, for draft picks. They need to start all over. BLOW it up. They are so short on talent, its laughable.
I would be shocked if they win more than 1 or 2 more games.
When does spring training start ? :-)
dan9189 said:
Kap,
You're blaming the wrong guy(s). First off the guy who must go is Jerry Angelo. He's the guy "buying the groceries" and hasn't done much to change the defense that hasn't been elite since 2006. Speaking of which, the defensive line is old, bad, and the main root of the defensive problems. The Tampa 2 is dependent on the pass rush and a mlb that has the athleticism to drop into coverage in a hurry. Even though Urlacher is injured, he's been very good at that spot. However the D-Line cannot get any pressure on the qb which is allowing the qb to find the open lanes and exploit the Bears D. I think a retooling of the Bears D-Line is in order, not a firing of Smith. As for Cowher, he's a good coach and while I wouldn't mind seeing him as a Bears coach I think he winds up in Carolina.
ironwolf78 said:
Kap, you are right on man. I listen to you every day you're on WGN...I don't know what these other two guys are talking about. Fire Lovie, would love to have Cowher, if possible..and clean up this team. there are quite a few players that have never played that are more capable than the starters.
arch21002 said:
I am not that into football but I do watch the Bears. The thing I see as their main problem seems to be their personnel. They had one pro-bowler last year if I remember correctly which was Lance Briggs. This year they will be lucky to have one pro-bowler. The Bears went 9-7 last year with Kyle Orton, mediocre Wr's, a rookie RB, a bad pass defense. Angelo acquires Cutler in the offseason and acted as though that was going to cover the rest of their issues. They have no pass rush, and they can't block for the QB or RB. Their Wr's can't get separation, and their secondary sucks. You can blame the coach all you want, but when he had good players the team was good...correct? They now have bad players and now they are mediocre.
I don't see how Bill Cowher would make this Bears team a 10+ team right now. If anyone out there I would hire Mike Shannahan. I build everything around Cutler like the Packers did with Favre in the 90's. Favre had a mentor in Holmngren who helped him quite a bit. Jay Cutler is Shannahan's guy, and would probably walk to Halas Hall to get another opportunity to work with him. How many playbooks does Jay need to learn? I would go back to Shannahan, and have him be the GM/Coach. Or have him be a big voice in the war room. It took Cowher 13 years to win a superbowl, I really don't see him much different than Lovie. He went to the Superbowl early in his career, then didn't get back there until 2005. Lovie has gotten there early in his career and has been pretty mediocre since. Shannahan knows Jay and that is why I would go after him if anyone at all.
Bandwagon Driver said:
I'd like to point out that Mike Brown is still healthy down in KC.
JobbaJibba said:
Uhmm...is that a good thing Bandwagon? Last I checked he was getting torched left and right.
IrishYeti said:
He must possess an ability to connect with the fan base and the media,
You basically lost me here. Your emotions are showing. I know you hate Cutler for his inability to be buddy buddy with the media after a loss. However, this tidbit should not matter. If a head coach is a complete dick to media and fans, I'm fine with that as long as he's winning.
AuroraStan said:
Kap:
You are absolutely correct, Lovie must go. All of the Jerry Angelo angst is missplaced. If Lovie and his coaching staff were any good they might have developed some of the talent that was drafted. Sorry, but what if a different coach had gotten into Cedric Benson's head. Maybe some of the wide receivers now playing on other teams around the league might have developed. Lovie is the Speed on defense guy that helped assemble this mess. We are going to be awful this year and there isn't even a high first round pick to make us better next year.
Next year would be a good year for a new coach to evaluate the dregs on his team and then clear the decks.
Doshi said:
I like the Bill Cowher idea. I firmly believe that the talent level on the defense is at least top 15, if not top 10 overall. They're just lacking toughness and good coaching. Cowher will hit these guys, call them out, make them miserable until they are good. Love the thought behind the suggestion.
That still doesn't fix the offense, though. Ron Turner is a blight as an offensive coordinator, and has been every single year he has coached except for 1995 (and I'm almost certain he had nothing to do with that year). Shanahan would be a dream OC (co-HC?) for this team, but he'll be expensive as hell to hire. My favorite low-cost OC at this point is Chan Gailey, formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs. Over the second half of last year, he orchestrated an absolutely brilliant offense using mostly dregs, also-rans, and over-the-hill players, and managed a slew of impressively close games where KC had no business even being in those games. I could only imagine what Gailey could do with an offense that actually has skill position talent like the Bears.
cc002600 said:
Top 10 defense ? LMAO. Have you watched the last 3 games ?
Thanks to a series of blunders by Angelo over the last 3 years, this team has zero talent. Please.
With Urlacher out, there is not 1 difference maker on that defense. Tommie Harris is nowhere near the player he used to be. Briggs is decent, but he's not a stud. Ogunlye and Alex Brown are long in the tooth. Tillman is just average. The rest are all no-names retreads. This is a bad, bad team.
I keep hearing the name of Bill Cowher like he's some sort of God. I'm not saying he's not a good coach, but the guy won 1 super bowl in 15 years at Pittburgh, and yet you would think he was the second coming of Vince Lombardi. Holy cow.
This team needs to be blown up. It's old and has very little talent.
Bandwagon Driver said:
I dunno, Irish.. In a major media market, it's understandable that fans would drive themselves nuts without a proper representative of the team. We do pay their salaries, right? We're the 12th man (or 6th, or 10th, whatever). With the players busy conditioning, it's up to the head coach to reasonably answer questions. Being vague doesn't help Lovie in that respect. I understand he's got some game planning to do, but he's got plenty of guys under him. Annoying the fan base and media doesn't help his case because he'll be the first to go. And that bell is already tolling. ..
RJ04 said:
Kap,
Almost perfect, Lovie has to go, but I doubt the Bears will pay him to sit home. Jeff Fisher is probably out in Titan-land. Hire Fisher. Sign Fisher as the head coach and make Lovie the DC for next year. This way Lovie can eat his words as he stated, You can do much worse than Bob Babach as the DC. Lovie, we know, we have you. OK, probably not going to happen, but fire Lovie, bring in Fisher and start over. We can deal with Angelo in 2011
tom said:
I guess they should get rid of anyone that isn't friendly to the media.I think they should give Lovie a gold medal for putting up with the media and I don't even think he's a good coach but I love it when he talks to the media.He makes you guys look so stupid even though you don't need any help in that department
Bandwagon Driver said:
It's easy to make someone look stupid when you're deceitful and sometimes outright lying. We're not saying to get rid of everybody (Cutler is a media bomb, but fine by me), just Lovie.
winstonchill29 said:
All this talk about who must go is just a patch job approach to the problems with this organization! What good does it do to keep putting a "band aid" on the cut when the infection has already set in??? I've said this time and time again, the source of the Bears problem isn't the players, it isn't Lovie Smith, it isn't Jerry Angelo!!!!!!!!! The source of the problem lies in the leadership! It's true with any company or organization! The owners of the Bears is where it starts and ends with this embarassing excuse for a football franchise! The McCaskey's are PARASITES...plain and simple. I believe with my whole heart that George Halas set this org. up for failure on purpose before he died. It's called ego! He knew darn well his grandson, Mike, would be around for a long time and would be a wedge in the progress dept. for this team. So the Bears fire Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo............what then??? The person they bring in won't have the power to exercise good judgement anyway! If the fans are expecting a powerhouse Bears team to rule the roost anytime soon, guess again! This team has had a "cancer" known as McCaskey's and it's spreading like mad! Fire the owners or get used to mediocrity for one hell of a long time!
Rico Youngblood said:
Cowher is an excellent choice. Kap you have nailed it. Everywhere around the league, organizations want to patter their teams after either the Patriots or Steelers. After last night, its probably now only the Steelers. Get me Cowher NOW.
winstonchill29 said:
You will never see a coach like Cowher here as long as the McCaskey family is in ownership! They love the buddy system here. The buddy system doesn't build dynasty's, it builds obstacles! The McCaskey's love their family pet Ted Phillips who loves his boy Jerry Angelo who will pick a head coach who won't be a threat to him! You will never see a guy like Cowher or Shanahan because that would make Angelo expendable and Angelo won't allow that to happen........ It's the leadership of the organization that's holding back progress guys. You can slice it and dice it anyway you like, but it's never going to change until the parasites known as the McCaskey's are out of the picture, COMPLETELY!
Perno said:
I didn't even read the article, lame attempt to get more readers.
RIBearsFan said:
Right on, Kap. And as Lovie is walking out just make sure, with the exception of Taub, that Babich, Turner, et al. are right behind their head coach before the door closes.
Some on this blog blame the players, WRONG! All successful organizations are built from the top, not the bottom. You put a strong, confident, leader in place and even lesser members will rise-up and surprise the hell out of you. Why? Because everyone wants to play for a winner.
Leave a Comment?
What your comment will look like:
said: