Last week I made a plea for the firing of Lovie Smith as the Chicago Bears head coach, believing that Jerry Angelo’s acquisition of Jay Cutler had earned him the right to hire another coach. Today I honestly don’t care. Fire Jerry Angelo. Fire Ted Phillips. Cut whatever players neccessary. As long as it means Smith is gone. How is it possible that yesterday’s performance in Minneapolis, coupled with the earlier season losses to Arizona and Cincinnati, are not enough to get a team’s defensive coordinator fired? Replacing Ron Turner – who has decided the only routes worth running are bubble screens and go’s down the sideline – would be effective but underwhelming. The entire staff needs to be shown the door.
And this is no longer about moving into a different direction or maximizing the talent on the field. The Chicago Bears have become a terrible football team three years removed from an appearance in the Super Bowl. They can’t play offense. They can’t play defense. If Lovie Smith is allowed to remain the head coach it will be a confirmation by the organization that less-than-mediocrity will be tolerated at Halas Hall. They need to ask themselves if the hall’s namesake would tolerate it.
I wanted to fly to Minneapolis yesterday and tear the GSH off every one of their jerseys. They don’t deserve to wear his initials. They don’t deserve our cheering either. The coaches are out there. The big name, organization-stabilizing coaches. One of them needs to be brought here. And if he wants Jerry and Ted boxed up and out of the parking lot before he arrives, so be it. This is a time for definitive action in the face of a crisis because the devastation left by another year of this group might be unsalvageable.