I wanted to write one of those “these are the areas of need” columns but they bore they hell out of me.  You all know what we need.  Two viable, professional safeties.  A solid pass rusher to line up opposite Alex Brown.  A flood of offensive linemen.  Healthy linebackers.  Possibly a number one receiver, though the emergence of Devin Aromashodu certainly put the seed of doubt in my mind.  The Bears are sailing into the 2010 season on the Good Ship Lovie Smith and whether we like it or not, they need the right cargo.

A few things to note:

• Darren Sharper only signed a one-year deal with the New Orleans.  The Bears would have an opportunity to rectify that mistake.
• Logan Mankins is not Steve Hutchinson or Alan Faneca but he’s the next level of player and he’s available.
• Richie Incognito is a pain in the ass but he’s the kind of pain in the ass this team needs.
• Marcus McNeill, if the Bears got involved, would be a wonderful solution at right tackle.

Let’s not go crazy in the comments with trade proposals.  But I’d like to hear where you guys think logical upgrades are possible.

The Jets have reached the NFL’s final four.  The Jets.  A team that needed two late-December mail-in jobs to stay above the .500 mark will make the trip to Indianapolis this week with a Super Bowl berth on the window ledge.  The run it well, led by a guts-in-the-huddle back we once traded for a good French onion soup recipe.  They play great defense, led by the best defensive player in the league.  The ball also seems to bounce the right way for them, often in a somewhat-miraculous fashion.  Facts are facts, results are results, and the Jets are one two wins away from being the champions.

I say it whenever someone tells me the Bears are not a championship contender: every team that makes the postseason is a championship contender.  Just get into the tournament. 

Think about it.  The two hottest teams in the league heading into January, Dallas and San Diego, out.  The two teams routinely criticized for avoiding an undefeated season like the plague, hosting conference championship games.  The other two?  One lost to the Chicago Bears on December 28th and the other is the New York Jetropolitans. 

None of it makes any sense.  There’s no rhyme or reason to the NFL anymore.  No formula for success.  Flozell Adams gets hurt and the Cowboys can’t complete a pass.  Season over.  Nate Kaeding, unquestionably one of the best kickers in the sport, shanks chip-shot field goals and the Chargers look demoralized.  Season over.  This game is about the moment-to-moment confluence of violently unpredictable events with the occasional bit of execution thrown into the mix.  When the stakes are down to one game, one quarter, one play, anything can happen.  Anyone can win. 

So for those of you who believe the Chicago Bears are light years from competing at the NFL’s highest levels, you’re wrong.  7-9 can become 9-7 in the blink of an eye and for the second straight year a 9-7 team is in a conference championship game.  The 9-7 Cardinals were moments away from becoming champions a year ago.  The 9-7 Jets are headed to Indy.  Do we have the right personnel people and coaches in place?  Probably not.  Are other teams in the division better poised for the future?  Certainly so.  But it simply doesn’t matter.  Not in this current NFL.  All that matters is getting enough wins over four months to make the tournament.  Make the tournament and you can win a championship.  Anyone can.     

Full story: here.

This is very sad news.  Adams was the source of great debate on this website and of Bears fans around the country.  But no young man should leave this world after only twenty-six years.

From PFT:

One of Florio’s favorite coaches is choosing to make a lateral move to Chicago.

Mike Tice will leave his job as assistant head coach/ tight ends in Jacksonville for Chicago, where he will be the offensive line coach.  There was thought Tice may have been interviewing with the Bears for their vacant offensive coordinator position.

Tice was believed to be an ally of Jack Del Rio’s in Jacksonville, and it sounds like he needs it. 

Tice’s departure, technically for a downgrade in title, is just another hint at potential lingering weirdness in Jacksonville.

Tice was an awful head coach but he’s a great offensive line coach.  I do find it strange, however, that the Bears are assembling an offensive coaching staff without a coordinator in place.

I hate this day, this morning.  I wake up, check all the paper sites.  ProFootballTalk.  ESPN.  There’s nothing and it gets worse. 

I love it when people in the sports media propose good ideas.

In 2008, the Tribune reported
that Tennessee reached out to Bears coach Lovie Smith to gauge his
interest in becoming the coach at the school where he worked under
Phillip Fulmer in 1993 and ’94. Smith declined, but now the Volunteers’
job is open again with the exit of Lane Kiffin to USC.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk opines today that both sides should revisit the option.

“Frankly,
it might be in everyone’s best interests for Smith to pursue the
opportunity, unless he has no interest in leading a college program,”
Florio writes. “The Bears undoubtedly would have cleaned house at Halas
Hall but for the buyout obligations to Smith and G.M. Jerry Angelo. 
With Smith’s ability to stick around for 2011 riding on the performance
of quarterback Jay Cutler and mounting uncertainty regarding a work
stoppage after next season, heading to Knoxville makes plenty of sense,
especially if his compensation from the Volunteers would be enhanced by
a partial buyout from the Bears.”

Lovie Smith is a terrible football coach but he would be a terrific hire for Tennessee and he should definitely consider the option.  Please.  Pleeeeeeeease.

I spent the last couple days down the Jersey shore, casually looking at the Tribune’s website and ESPN News in hopes that the Bears would seal the deal on a pair of coordinators.  Nothing.  A couple uninspiring interviews to follow the news that Jeremy Bates would follow Pete Carroll to Seattle.  Bates – while certainly a risk – would have been an exciting addition to a coaching staff in desperate need of new edge.  

While the talk has been that Jeremy Bates was set to interview with the Bears on Tuesday, it is not the case.

The Chicago Bears
have been informed that Jeremy Bates, who was scheduled to interview
for their offensive coordinator’s job, has decided to accept the same
job with Carroll and the Seahawks, two sources told ESPN senior NFL
analyst Chris Mortensen on Sunday evening.

A source said Bates was tempted to be reunited with Bears quarterback Jay Cutler,
but the long-term security with Carroll was a major factor in his
decision to join the Seahawks rather than the Bears. Bates was Cutler’s
offensive coordinator with the Broncos in 2008.

There is no job security in Chicago.  There is one year.  It is the central flaw of bringing back the entire lame duck regime.