A Bitter Bears End

Well, the Cubs and Hawks have been able to revitalize their franchises. I'm very much hoping that they Bears can do the same. Everyone (myself included) thought they had enough talent on the roster to be competitive this year. I still think that's true on the offense.

I'm a little surprised that they got rid of the GM. I had trepidation about the head coach, but there were pieces that needed to be put into place and the GM got them, mostly. I guess there was never as meteoric a shift in the defense, though. That was a difficult position, with all of the aging pro-bowl players trying to play out their contracts under a new defensive scheme.

I think they have to hold Cutler (and anyone else) until there's a new GM and head coach - especially since they're on the hook for so much guaranteed money - but draft a future QB.

Regarding Cutler, it's hard to ignore his numbers - he's the best QB for stats in my lifetime, but this is the worst Bears team I can remember. That might become Cutler's legacy. He performed well individually in Denver, but almost never got to the playoffs. The intangibles (leadership) are missing, and could be the difference between a Jay Cutler and a Brett Favre.

When Lovie got fired, the goal was to put the staff in place to give Cutler the chance to succeed he hadn't yet gotten since choosing to come to Chicago. It sure looked like they did that. The expected attrition in the defense also occurred, but when the offense floundered, there was essentially nothing left on which to hang a hat.

When the search for a head coach to replace Lovie was underway, I really hoped they would talk to Dave Toub to fill his shoes. I still believe that moving Toub to HC and somehow holding on to Rod Marinelli would have meant that Urlacher could have played another year and retired on his own terms. I think there wouldn't have been the drop off in defensive play that we saw last year, and then Toub and a new OC could have focused on updating the line and the overall offensive scheme.

In fact, with Toub as HC, they still could have hired Joe DeCamillis and there probably wouldn't have been as much of a drop in production. Instead, Toub has continued his thorough coaching style in Kansas City. Just a thought - Mike Ditka was a special teams coordinator before taking the reigns with the Bears.

One more thought - the Bears might want to find a GM, coach, or coordinator from Boston. Tom Thibodeau and Theo Epstein seem to be working so far...