Brandon Marshall: Out in Denver?
BM is in great shape and preparing for this weekend’s Pro Bowl to be the last game he plays in a Denver Broncos’ helmet.  Marshall will be trade bait come early March and should fetch a sum that includes a number one draft pick.  While we’d all love to see the Bears get involved, there may just be too many competitive teams with a number one (Baltimore, Miami) for it to happen.  That begs the question: do the Bears have anybody on the roster that might interest Denver?

Jeremy Bates Salutes Jay
Vaughn McClure has some interesting and inspiring quotes from Jeremy Bates on Jay Cutler.  But the part that interested me is the conclusion:

Pressed about the
Bears’ situation, Bates refused to bite. He was scheduled to interview
in Chicago until agreeing to remain with Carroll.
 
“I’m not
going to get involved with what took place,” he said. “I’m really
excited about going to Seattle. Coach Carroll is a great coach, and he
put together a great staff. I’m excited about going to work in
Seattle.”

What did take place?  I was under the assumption that Bates never met with the Bears regarding the position.  Are there gaps that have yet to be filled in?

Three Quick Things…
(1) Pisa Tinoisamoa is coming back to Chicago next season and that’s a good thing based on the flashes he showed early in the year.  (2) Olin Kreutz is having major surgery that will require a multi-month recovery.  I think it’s time to let that ship sail.  (3) Wanna know why the Bears can’t hire a coordinator.  Ask Neil Hayes:

“You’ve only got one year to get it right and sometimes it takes longer
than that,” said one longtime NFL assistant. What many perceived to be
a tough 2010 schedule may also be making candidates wary. Besides
playing the division-rival Vikings and Packers twice next season, the
Bears will also play the Eagles, Patriots, Jets and Seahawks at home
and the Cowboys, Giants, Dolphins and Panthers on the road.”

Perception becomes reality in the NFL almost overnight.

Hue Jackson, the quarterbacks coach of a Baltimore Ravens team that could barely throw a pass in the postseason, chose to become the offensive coordinator of the Oakland Raiders.  He chose the unenviable task of tutoring JaMarcus Russell – the worst professional quarterback I’ve ever seen – and will receive a three-year deal and an enviable sum to do so. 

If you ask Rick Morrissey, he made a choice:

Hue Jackson picked those Raiders over your Chicago Bears. He took
the job as Oakland’s offensive coordinator before the outfit in Lake
Forest even had a chance to interview him.

How low can the Bears go?

Now Morrissey, on the surface, is correct.  Jackson canceled an opportunity to interview with the Bears and chose the Raiders’ gig.  But does any knowledgeable football fan think the Bears were even in the running?  (1) Al Davis made it clear that he was bringing in a coach to salvage the fading career of JaMarcus.  (2) He subsequently signed Hue to a three-year contract for a boatload of money – something the Bears were simply not equipped to do.  This is not a choice.  This is the difference between hired for a second-rate Broadway gig at $1500 a week (Oakland) or being asked to come in and audition for sure-to-be hit (Chicago).  Ask an actor which they’d prefer.

But the perception, like that of Morrissey and ESPN, is becoming an NFL reality.  The Chicago Bears are the geeky kid going locker-to-locker looking for a prom date.  And ultimately they will settle for someone uninspiring, on both sides of the ball, and leave us to wonder what the 2010 season will bring.

This is why I argued that firing Ron Turner was a senseless act if you decide to leave the head coach in place.  This is why I argued that removing the defensive play-calling duties from Lovie Smith but allowing him to continue his misusage of time outs and challenge flags was counter productive.  There isn’t a promising young coach alive who’d like to step into a situation that could set his career back three years. 

But remember, the Bears know better than us.  Don’t believe me?  Just ask them.  They were the ones that told us that coaches around the country would be lined up outside Halas Hall, CVs in hand, desperate for the opportunity to be part of this franchise.  Their perception of themselves might help them get out of bed in the morning.  It simply doesn’t match the reality.

The Bears are not looking for an offensive coach to institute a head coach’s scheme.  They’re looking for a coach to install an offensive identity.  Jensen – the new Brad Biggs at the Sun-Times – posits Jim Zorn as the right man for the job:

”Any quarterback who’s willing to work would be a great fit for Jim
Zorn,” said Matt Hasselbeck, a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback for the
Seahawks who entered the league in 1998 on the Green Bay Packers’
practice squad. ”He’s going to make you work. You can’t think, ‘Hey,
I’m going to have a wonderful offseason, sipping Mai Tais on South
Beach.’

”He’s demanding. As a player, you sort of hate it while you’re with
him. But at some point during the season, or late in the season, you
look back and say, ‘Man, he made me a lot better.”’

I’m pretty disappointed in myself for not thinking this first.  Zorn is a perfect hire – aggressive and opinionated.  He’ll disrupt the era of complacency currently happening down at Halas Hall. 

Jeremy Bates.  No thanks.

There were fifteen yards there for the taking.  An easy run for the aging quarterback.  A sure thing field goal from a sure thing kicker and another trip to the biggest game in all of sports.  Could he move his “limping” body down the field and seal the dream matchup for for hordes of obnoxious, sycophantic sports writers?

Dan Pompei is reporting that Rob Chudzinski is passing on the opportunity to run the Chicago Bears offense for a season:

Chudzinski finished the season as the assistant head coach and tight
ends coach of the Chargers. His contract is expiring, and it is
believed the Chargers want him back. Chudzinski also could be drawing
interest from other teams.

If Chudzinski and the Bears
had come to terms, he would have been given control of the Bears’
offensive game-planning and play-calling. In San Diego, head coach Norv
Turner is the man most responsible for the Chargers’ offense. The team
also has an offensive coordinator in Clarence Shelmon.

Chudzinski
appeared to be a strong candidate because he has experience as a
coordinator, having worked in that capacity for the University of Miami
and for the Cleveland Browns. Chudzinski had spectacular success at
Miami and for his first year with the Browns.

I hate Cinderella.

I hate when underdog teams emerge for a pseudo-magical playoff run and prevent us all from experiencing that which links generations of sports fans: greatness.  The most dominant team of the modern football era, the 2007 New England Patriots, lost a Super Bowl title on an awkward helmet grab by now Ravens special teamer David Tyree.  While the celebration erupted from Manhattan to Moonachie, football fans were denied the right to compare a brilliant squad to the Dolphins of ’72 or the Bears of ’85.  The 2007 Pats were now the Dolphins of ’84 and Bears of ’06.

I know some of the responses will be, “Boo hoo hoo.  If you’re great, win.  If not, stop crying.”  Understandable.  But football, more than any other sport, often goes the way the ball bounces.  The Jets didn’t force Nate “Needs a New Nickname” Kaeding to shank chip shot fieldgoals in clutch situations.  They didn’t force “Dr. Ian” Malcolm Floyd to commit a moronic, off-play block in the back penalty that halted was what might have been a game-icing drive.  They showed up and they played and the ball bounced their way.  More specifically it rolled right off the legs of Vincent Jackson and into the arms of Darrelle Revis.

I think Peyton Manning is the greatest football player to ever play the game.  And my philosophy is whenever the Bears don’t win a championship, I hope Peyton does.  I want to look back in twenty years and revel in the knowledge that I saw this guy play quarterback and win multiple titles in an era designed to prevent teams from prolonged success.  Calling his own plays at the line of scrimmage against the most complicated defenses the game has ever known.  Making stars out of players like Pierre Garcon.  Sending off his punting unit on fourth down.  Peyton is what I love about football.

And I hope he attacks Revis.  The Jets’ cornerback has been the revelation of the 2009 football season, shutting down every elite wide receiver he lined up against.  He hasn’t been great.  He’s been superhuman.  If Manning and Wayne can do what no other combination has done all season, what a story that would make.  

I root for Peyton Manning and I don’t apologize for it.  He’s everything I want my team to be.  And if players like that don’t reach the greatest levels in the sport, what’s to inspire the Chicago Bears to be that good?  What’s to inspire Jay Cutler? 

Bears Interviewing Chud
Rob Chudzinski is an old school football guy.  He won national championships as a player at Miami and has developed a reputation as one of the leading tight end coaches in the league.  It makes sense that the Bears are interested in hiring him, especially because that last name belongs on the Bears sideline.  What I like about Chud is that he’ll have no problems dealing with a talented yet temperamental quarterback.  Because nobody is more talented or more temperamental than Phil Rivers.

Forte Surgery
So now Matt Forte is having secret surgery.  Here’s my thing.  I don’t go for the playing through injuries approach if you’re hurting the club and clearly 2009 Matt Forte was a shell of 2008 Matt Forte.  If the reason was injury then this organization is more lost than I originally thought.

Gannon: Hire Hackett
Rich Gannon thinks the Bears should hire Paul Hackett as their next offensive coordinator.  If the Bears are even considering this, I’m not watching a game next season.  Hackett sucks.  Seriously sucks.  And Gannon needs to realize that there is meaningful football played outside of Oakland, California.

I have decided, until further notice, I am no longer going to make checking the websites of the Tribune and the Sun-Times part of my morning ritual.  I don’t care about Carlton Fisk’s take on the steroids era or how many players on the Bulls have the flu.  I think, and I can’t prove this with any mathematical formula, the Chicago Bears are going to be the first professional football team since electricity to enter a season without anyone coordinating the offense or defense.  And that’s starting to frighten me.