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.
