mvP to the Wee

I know we had some Bears discussion a few weeks ago. Thought we could get these forums a bit more active with more Bears talk. Who do you want to hire? What other moves do you want to make? Dr

I hope Tice and Drake are out the door too.

thebizkit69u

Jon Gruden should be Emery's first choice, not only is he the best coach available but Gruden is very familiar with Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli who is under contract and has done a good job with this unit.

Expect guys like Tice and Drake to be gone, Jerremy Bates might stay because hes under contract and has some rapport with Jay Cutler. Special Teams has been very solid and arguably has the best ST coach in the game.

Marcus13

Am I the only one shocked by this?

Maybe not shocked, but...very surprised??

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mvP to the Wee

I like Gruden, but Mike McCoy from Denver has emerged as my first choice.

thebizkit69u

There are some pretty interesting young names out there, Kyle Shanahan is only 33 and has done a fantastic job of making an offense cater to a young QB like RG3.

I think Gruden is the Bears top choice because out of all the other coaches available, Gruden might be the only one that would keep some of the Bears under contract assistants, like Marinelli. The Bears will pay 5 million for Lovies final contract year, I doubt they will clean the entire house and eat even MORE contract.

thebizkit69u

I'm surprised that the Bears made the right move, NOT surprised that Lovie was fired... If that makes any sense.

Dornado

I have reservations about Jon Gruden (Bill Callahan was able to take the Raiders to the SB after he left, Gruden was arguably handed a contender in Tampa Bay) but I agree that he probably has the best resume of the available candidates. I probably would have kept Lovie Smith and given Emery the opportunity to assemble an NFL-caliber offensive line. I think we can all agree that we've had solid to great defenses under Lovie and below average to bad offenses... I guess I just view the offensive woes as a personnel issue in terms of on-field and off-field talent. If the big problem was that Lovie Smith was involved in making some of those personnel decisions, why not just hand the keys over to Emery and tell Lovie that it is his lone responsibility to coach the team, not build it? I guess we'll never know who made most of the bad decisions, but I always thought it was a Jerry Angelo problem, not a Lovie Smith problem. Ultimately I think my perception of this move will be colored by whoever we get as a replacement... I'm not eager to return to the days of Dave Wanstedt or Dick Jauron, who were significantly less capable than Lovie.

It wouldn't shock me if Lovie Smith got hired elsewhere for next season, which would offset some of the Bears salary obligation (their liability is mitigated by whatever he gets paid by another team).

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mvP to the Wee

I'm not surprised. Emery has shown that he's a pretty good GM up to this point. Hopefully he gets some quality OL for next season.

Spikeaji

Am I crazy for wanting Andy Reid to come to Chicago? We need a coach who can focus on the offensive side of the ball.

thebizkit69u

The Bucks gave up a ton for Gruden, they felt like Gruden was going to win them a SB title, they were right. Gruden was given a SB quality Defense and he won, Lovie has had a few teams with SB talent on defense and he din't win. The difference is that Gruden can coach offense, Lovie can't. Gruden is an all in one coach, Lovie was someone who relied on his coordinators heavily. Lovie is a horrible talent evaluator, and with the NFL evolving into a passing league, Lovie and his get off the bus running style of football is antiquated.

You don't pay a coach for 9 years to do nothing other than coach turnovers. The Bears have failed to be anything more than be a team that creates a ton of turnovers. There is no innovation on offense, there is no direction on were this team is going.. Lovie has had plenty of time to solve all these problems, and he failed.

Lovie hired Darrel Drake, Babich, Turner, Martz, Tice, Terry Shea. His inability to surround himself with capable coordinators should not be acceptable.