About
I am a multimedia nut, journalism, photography, videography, radio broadcasting and production. I’ve done it all, but I love to write and have a lot to say. I live in the Chicagoland area now and have always had an extreme love and passion for the Chicago Bears
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Written by Brett Solesky
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 16:33 |
 So I've been thinking a lot about the Chicago Bears' off-season to this point, a little over two months into the off-season. I'm trying to digest all the hype and excitement of the impending start of free agency, all the while trying to keep a level head about it, and ask some tough questions of the organization from top to bottom.
Based on everything that's happened to this point of the off-season I feel like the McCaskey organization is spitting in the face of the fans. I think they're playing most fans and the media alike as stupid buffoons who can't follow one off-season event to the next and won't digest exactly what's happening until after another dismal 2010 season comes to a close.
I've honestly been trying to remain optimistic, but given the history of spin that has come out of the mouth of Jerry Angelo I have a hard time believing all the media reports that I am constantly hearing.
I'm not stupid and I think a vast majority of Bears fans aren't stupid either, they just get lost in the vicious cycle that is the 24 hour a day internet, social media networking, blogosphere, coma inducing news coverage.
Things tend to get lost in the cycle in the ever changing news cycle that is the 21st century it doesn't just happen in sports, it happens in regular news as well. No one is truly immune from it unless they have a very sharp and astute memory, most people do but they have other things they have to deal with.
To break it all down for you let's start with the backlash against Lovie Smith and his coaching staff, the Bears Fans united bill board group and the fact that a vast majority of us wanted Lovie Smith fired with about three weeks left in the season. The feeling was there was no way in hell that Lovie Smith was going to be retained, this game prior to the Baltimore game via the feeling we got from Jerry Angelo during a rare late season press conference regarding the state of the franchise.
<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/news/story?id=4759793">Angelo said at the time that contrary to reports, Lovie Smith's fate had not been decided</a> and that no decision had been made that Smith was in fact returning. Then came the ass whipping in Baltimore, to the tune of 31-7, with no offensive touchdowns and another three INT day by Cutler.
The Bears finished the season by winning two straight, a thrilling overtime victory over the Vikings and then an eek it out win over the Lions.
This apparently was enough to save Lovie Smith's job, either that or the Bears couldn't eat the $11-million-dollars in salary that was still owed to Lovie Smith. Knowing the McCaskey's the way we do the idea that money wasn't a consideration is patently false if not an outright lie.
Either that or it's a fair judgment call to make that Jerry Angelo is the biggest idiot in the history of NFL football management. I haven't ruled out that possibility yet either, but let me take some time to lead this horse to water.
So Lovie Smith is retained and for all intents and purposes let's call it a financial decision that had to be made on the part of the ownership.
Not long after this comes the coach hiring debacle in which the Bears run through a number interviews before deciding to ultimately settle on Mike Martz. They then follow this up with one interview for the defensive coordinator position and then promote Rod Marinelli. Incompetence at it's finest, to say the very least of that circus.
<a href="http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/02/bears-will-raise-ticket-prices-for-2010-season.html">After the coaching search charade, the Bears decide to stick the fans in the ass with a raise in ticket prices.</a> Classy group this ownership is, doing more to pad their pockets while simultaneously sticking it to the most loyal fan base in the NFL.
 Then you come to the evidence that retaining Lovie Smith was a financial consideration, <a href="http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/02/phillips-bears-wont-go-hog-wild-in-free-agency.html">Ted Phillips the President of the Bears and their main money man aka accountant comes out and states that "the Bears won't go hog wild in free agency"</a>
Okay so the Bears aren't going to go hog wild in according to Ted Phillips who is the overall commander of the Bears' money situation. Phillips said:
"We're not going to be one of those handful of teams sometimes that just goes hog wild in free agency," said Phillips, who said a looming lockout in 2011 didn't affect the budget. "I think you guys know our strategy has always been kind of balanced in free agency and work through the draft and every other area to try to add players to the team. It's not all about free agency. I think the reality that teams' success, at least in the NFL, is not based on how much money you spend in free agency."
<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-0226-bears-mcclure-chicago--20100225,0,6674071.story">Then comes the report that the Bears are interested in the biggest fish in the free agency pond, Julius Peppers who is rumored to be looking for a deal in the neighborhood of $40-million-dollars in guaranteed money</a>
This report about Julius Peppers directly contradicts the statement made by Ted Phillips that the Bears won't go hog wild in free agency in 2010. You can't legitimately chase Julius Peppers without going hog wild, it's a near impossibility given that Peppers is about the ONLY marquee free agent on the market and there's six other teams involved in the wooing of Peppers including the biggest hog at the trough Daniel Snyder and the Washington Redskins.
<a href="http://www.suntimes.com/sports/jensen/2078015,CST-SPT-sean02.article">Then the word leaks out that the Bears are willing to commit $25-million-dollars in guaranteed money for the 2010 free agency pool</a>.
Okay so let's tie this all together now and see if all of this logically fits the Bears' management style and philosophy on winning.
We all can agree and I would think Jerry Angelo would agree that the Bears would be better off without Lovie Smith as a head coach. Yet the Bears retained Smith essentially for financial reasons, and won't go hog wild in free agency, but do have $25-million-dollars in guaranteed money and are interested in Julius Peppers who wants $40-million in up front money.
 Does any of this make any sort of logical sense to Chicago Bears fans? The Bears are not a team that has really had the brass balls it takes to make a financial commitment to Julius Peppers, (which arguably could come back to bite them in the ass in the first place) they don't have the cojones required to eat $11-million-dollars in salary which would TRULY make the team better and it would put the Bears in a better position to win, but they have $25-million-dollars to spend in free agency, even though Ted Phillips says the Bears won't be going hog wild.
All this leads me to believe one of two things, either we're about to see a huge change in philosophy for a notoriously mediocre to poor NFL franchise, or we're being jerked around in opposite directions, and the victims of media driven, Bears have no draft picks in the first two rounds HYPE.
Simply look at the coverage the Bears are getting from the national media, to understand just how big of a hype machine this has become, or if you look deeper into the real problem of smoke and mirrors.
Look at this bright shiny object over here, and forget about just how incompetent this franchise has been throughout the better part of 45-years.
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