If anyone can explain to me the direction the Chicago Bears are taking this offseason, then I’ll donate a week’s salary to your favorite charity. And “backwards” doesn’t count.
The Bears began the offseason by firing offensive coordinator Ron Turner and relieving head coach Lovie Smith of his defensive play calling duties. GM Jerry Angelo’s first choices as candidates to replace Turner and Smith were USC offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates and former Bills defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. But he lost out on both when Pete Carroll hired Bates to run the offense in Seattle and the Giants hired Fewell to run their defense in New York.
It’s an understatement to say that Angelo settled for Mike Martz in early February. Angelo had Rob Chudzinski, Hue Jackson and a host of others atop his wish list of offensive coordinators, but nobody wanted to come to Chicago with the possibility of Smith and his entire staff getting axed a year from now. Angelo was desperate, and so too was Martz.
Out of options again, Angelo promoted defensive line coach Rod Marinelli to defensive coordinator on February 5, despite the fact that Marinelli had no previous experience in that role. When the Bears hired Smith in 2004, he tired to bring Marinelli (his former staff member in Tampa) to Chicago to be his new defensive coordinator but the Bucs didn’t release Marinelli out of his contract. Seven years later, Smith is getting his wish.
With the coordinator roles finally settled, Angelo thought it would be wise to fire director of pro personnel Bobby DePaul on Monday. This is significant because DePaul was the man that orchestrated the Jay Cutler trade and had been with the Bears since 2001. That’s nine seasons of experience that Angelo just fired, not to mention the person responsible for pulling off the franchise’s biggest trade.
The timing of DePaul’s firing is perplexing. Most teams fire personnel people in May because at that point, the draft is over and free agency has settled in. Teams rarely fire the man responsible for evaluating players, managing scouting and preparing the club for free agency right before the NFL combine and the free agency period begins. It just doesn’t make any sense because scouting free agents and prospects is a yearlong process – a process that should be almost completed in mid February.
Granted, DePaul is coming off a horrendous offseason. The acquisition of Cutler was met with cheers last offseason and jeers when he went on to lead the league in interceptions because his offensive line (the offensive line that DePaul helped built) gave him little protection. DePaul is the same genius that thought Frank Omiyale (a career tackle used to playing in a zone-blocking scheme) would be a great fit to play guard in a pro style offense. Omiyale teamed up with Orlando Pace (another DePaul signing) to help form one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL last season.
That said, all league personnel men have hits and misses and their resumes, so why was DePaul shown the door now after nine seasons? Free agency will be vital to the Bears this offseason because they don’t have their first two picks in the draft. So why fire the man in charge of making most of the decisions when it comes to free agents when he doesn’t have a strong history of making mistakes?
One theory is that Smith wanted DePaul gone. DePaul was the one that brought Ron Rivera’s name to the forefront when Smith missed out on Marinelli in ’04 and it was Smith that helped usher Rivera out after the Bears made it to the Super Bowl in ’06. Maybe Smith felt that DePaul was running too much of the show and seeing as how this is a make or break year for Lovie, he wanted to do things his way from start to finish.
Another theory is that Angelo wants to work with former Seahawks’ GM Tim Russkell, whom he knew from their days in Tampa. After stepping down in Seattle at the end of the 2009 season, Russkell is available and with DePaul now out of the way, Angelo can hire his former colleague to take over the pro personnel responsibilities.
Either way, as it stands right now the Bears don’t have a pro personnel person and the scouting combine is next week. And if hiring someone new goes as well for Angelo as finding coordinators did, then the Bears are in trouble.
The Bears’ total lack of direction this offseason is appalling. Granted, it’s not Angelo and Smith’s fault that their top choices for coordinators chose not to come to Chicago, but in a way it is. The perplexing timing of the DePaul firing proves that the Bears don’t have much stability and direction right now under Angelo and Smith. Why would anyone want to come to Chicago without knowing whether or not they’ll have a job in 12 months?
The new season is still more than six months away but thus far, the Bears are off to a rocky start.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
