Why Do We Put Up With This - Part 4?

If it wasn't for the Blackhawks who may want to remove the dirty word (i.e. "Chicago") attached to their franchise with the rest of the mess surrounding the other sports teams, this could be the biggest joke of a major market sports city right now. WHAT A TOTAL MESS!

Thank goodness I didn't watch the Halas Hall Circus (I thought the circus came to town in November, not January) on TV today or listen to it live on the radio. Instead I watched and listened to the "highlights" throughout the night on the nearly non-stop coverage. The press conference at least proved a given in life...stuff runs downhill. Ted Phillips gets to stay on as worthless Team President (what exactly does this guy do?!?). Jerry Angelo sticks around as GM even though Jerry had a pretty close race in the worst GM in town contest with Jim Hendry. Continuity for the sake of continuity is just ludicrous...just ask the Lions about the Matt Millen era. Lovie sticks around AGAIN even though the Bears haven't made the playoffs since getting blown out in the Super Bowl 3 years ago. When there are only 4 teams in your division and one of them has gone 2-30 over the last 2 years, you should make the playoffs more often than 1/4 of the time. Since firing Chico Rivera (that was all Lovie) following the Super Bowl season, the Bears have really struggled defensively. Is it just the aging of the players or is it the guy calling the shots?

How about some more continuity talk? In responding to some questions about the scheme, Lovie's only response was that the Bears won and were successful with the Cover 2 scheme 3 years ago. WHAT?!? Do offenses not ever adjust Lovie? Why don't you see that the scheme isn't working any more? Did you watch the game film from the Bengals, Cardinals, Ravens, or first Vikings games where good QBs torched your D time after time? If you don't have the players and talent to pull it off, don't you have to go with something else?

It all starts at the top and I would have dumped everyone from Phillips on down. Three years of so-so football is NOT acceptable anywhere, especially in the home of the NFL's inaugural franchise. Phillips is gone for not firing Angelo who is fired for his aforementioned HORRENDOUS job. You don't think you did a very good job this year Angelo? You're right and that's the first time in a while you've been right. How much money did you give away to Orlando Pace? How about Omiyale? Both of those guys were benched during those last two games where the O actually looked like they knew what they were doing. You go out and get a "franchise QB" but then don't give him a true #1 WR to throw to? Wasn't it your idea to turn Hester into a WR and write his contract such that he only gets "paid" based on WR incentives? Congrats buddy - you're the only guy in the NFL that can stop Devin Hester. How did that Gaines Adams trade work out for us this year? After giving up a bunch of draft picks for Cutler, you have now given up our 2nd rounder for this year for a guy that saw the field for about 10% of the defensive plays if that. He finished the season with 4 tackles and 3 assists! I know you suck at drafting in the early rounds, but isn't this going a little too far? How did the lack of signing an experienced safety work out? The Saints signed Darren Sharper who led the NFL in interceptions (9) returning 3 for TDs which is the same number as Devin Hester did as a WR and helped lead the Saints to the playoffs as the #1 seed in the NFC. Now if this isn't a Jim Hendyism, I don't know what is...what are the Bears needs heading into the off-season this year? Well, O-Line and defensive secondary. Sound familiar? Weren't those their needs last year and weren't they supposedly addressed with Pace and Omiyale?

Lovie's gone because he lets his players do whatever they want with no repercussions and for his utter lack of talent evaluation. He took credit for Johnny Knox who was headed to the practice squad before Aromashodu went down with injury. Why do they rotate the returners seemingly on every kick which was a lot since the D was giving up points by the bushel full? At least he fired himself as D-coordinator although his plan seems to be to bring in another clone like he had in Babich.

So all they did was dump the majority of the offensive coaches and that's supposed to solve everything. That's the other problem...they really do think "we're close". Really? What games have you been watching boys? How many Pro Bowl players came from the Bears? Oh ya, just one...ya, you're right...we are close. What was I thinking? Supposedly THIS is Lovie's last chance...it's win or else. Or else what? They're still going to pay him his final year's salary? Unless three teams are going to make it from the historically weak NFC North, I don't see how they have any shot at making the playoffs (did you see their brutal schedule for 2010?). The Vikings will still have their D, AP and Favre so while they may not go 12-4, they're still in. And the Packers with Aaron Rodgers are getting better and better as they continue to learn their new 3-4 defensive system. By the way, do you know what pick Aaron Rodgers was in the 2005 draft? He was #24 overall and the Bears took an immature Cedric Benson at #4 that year which wasn't the biggest mistake in that draft. The 49ers took Alex Smith #1 overall which was the only other QB taken ahead of Rodgers. So no playoffs, no excuses...is Lovie back again for the final year of his contract in 2011? That's really THE question for me...if Lovie was actually finishing up his current contract instead of having 2 years remaining, would the Bears have resigned him? I just can't see how they would so then doesn't it make this decision purely based on money alone? That's tough to swallow for what they charge for tickets and with such a huge and supportive fan base for a franchise recently valued at over $1 billion.

And what the heck are the Cubs doing? Not only did they bring back their circus ring masters in Crane Kenney, Jim Hendry and Lou Piniella, they now sit around on their fat duffs watching the rival Cardinals continue to work to improve their team even though they actually made the playoffs. Did you see the mid-market Cardinals were able to sign Matt Holliday to a 7-year $120 million contract today? But wait, the Cubs did get rid of clubhouse cancer and under-achiever Milton Bradley although they did get stuck with another horrendous contract in Carlos Silva even if they did save a little money. Oh and they signed their CF of the future in Marlon Byrd if you consider a mediocre at best 32-year old CF a good thing. Apparently Hendry is NOT learning ANY lessons whatsoever that signing so-so players to extended contracts (Byrd got a 3-year deal even though it doesn't seem that any other team was remotely interested in this guy) is a bad thing.

The Bulls are who we thought they were before their somewhat miraculous 4-game winning streak which provided enough of a mirage to allow Vinny to stick around a little longer than I'd have preferred. Can ANYONE on this team step up and make an outside shot? Hinrich missed a wide open 12-footer by barely hitting the rim. If Vinny has a response as to why D-Rose was making the in-bounds pass instead of catching it, I'd like to hear it. D-Rose was the ONLY guy playing in the 4th quarter so why he was out of bounds making that important in-bounds pass is just ridiculous.

After that recent stretch of horrendous losses including a 32-point home loss to the sub-.500 Raptors (I was there!), the first road win by the Nets, and a 35-point loss to the Hawks. But those were just lead-ins to the infamous loss to the sub-.500 Kings where they blew a 35-point lead at home.

WHY DO WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THIS GARBAGE?!?