CrackerDog

Not a chance. The Bears track record with douches doesn't support your opinion. Think back a little, can you recall a few? The PR bath the Bears would take for letting TO go without compensation (if he's good) when he signs with another team doesn't support your opinion. Newspapers would be asking "WHY DIDN'T YOU AT LEAST TRADE HIM?" It's a trap. In my opinion one of two things would happen, you'd sign him and he's lost a few steps and blows, this means you wasted time with him. OR... You sign him for cheap, he's good, he realizes he has one last chance at earning and goes beserk trying to get cut so he can go get a real contract. A lose/lose if you ask me.

Please. If he opens the season with a 10 catch game for 120 yards and a TD and then starts being typical TO, you think the Bears could cut him? You're delusional. And slowly but surely he'd destroy any team chemistry that existed. I don't want that douchebag anywhere near Lake Forest.

Great, so that means we should sign this piece of human refuse. He's only done exactly the same BS at every team he's ever been with but we'll be the lucky ones!!! Put down the crack pipe. Even if signed for no money the circus starts immediately and it only gets worse if he has a good game. Then you're trapped because you can't cut him. Then he demands big money and starts doing pushups in his driveway. Bad idea.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown...-214206478.html Big Money Quote: "being 38 years old at the time, coming off a catastrophic knee injury, or being saddled with the label of a malcontent team-killer." I not only hope the Bears never sign his guy, I hope nobody does and he really does kill himself this time.

This thread is a joke, right? Tell me it's a joke. The idea of signing this a$$hole after nobody sniffed him for an entire year... It must be a joke.

Here I don't agree. Say what you want about JA when it comes to our drafts and some of his free agents but you could do a lot worse than Peppers (FA) and Cutler (trade). It isn't just "anyone" who can pull that off, particularly when you've got to consider it probably took a minor miracle to convince the McCaskey family they were worth the money. You need someone with a track record to 1. convince the FA you're viable and 2. get the approval internally. Thus far I think the Bears have taken a step backwards but I hope they convince me otherwise real soon.

I'm usually right there with you on "chilling out" but damn if this doesn't smell bad to me. Here's hoping for the best...

Not sure if any of you follow him but he's been talking about bringing Marshall to the Bears all day.

I told you so. We'll all be wishing JA was still here by the time the Bears braintrust is done with this fiasco.

I loved Ditka in his day. That day has passed. He just needs to go away now. I think years of heavy drinking have taken their toll on the guy. He's a pathetic shell of his former self. And he was a terrible GM.

Not really. Your three positives could be boiled down to one: He's a players coach. Then you go on to say he sucks at everything else. And that sucky coach led the Bears to within a TD of being in the Superbowl last year after his franchise QB went down in the Conference Championship. Look, I don't like a lot of things Lovie's done over the years either. I just hate all the "experts" on this board piling on. Jeez, let the body get a little cold before we start picking at the corpse. And yes, this OL is in need of a complete makeover. 3 bodies in my estimation, minimum. I'm just hoping the next GM walks in the door with that in mind. We have a QB we need to protect now, let's not let him get sacked at near record levels going forward. Once again, the largest failure of the JA regime in Chicago, IMO.

There is quite literally no talent on this OL and Tice made them look reasonable after a few bad games each season. He's also suffered from some piss-poor timing on luck with injuries. He's planned to go into a season or game with this line-up or another and then someone will invariably go down, sometimes for the whole year. Once again, Jason, you prove to be the most black/white poster on the board. Everything is so horribly wrong with someone when you decide you hate them. Fact is, Lovie will be hired for another job as soon as the Bears decide to let him go. Not that that means too much but the guy is certainly respected in the league, that's all I'm saying. It's a lot easier to shoot from the sidelines (the internet) than to be out there swinging an axe, working hard and getting your players to see that and respect you. The sad fact is this isn't black/white. There are some things about these changes that will be bad for the team. And the bears have a track record of poor decisions from the top that suggests to me we'll probably hire someone for both OC and GM who doesn't work out as well as what we've seen from JA and Lovie's crew over this last decade. I hope like hell they do and I'll love and support them regardless but I'm very leery this is all going to somehow all just work out perfectly. Firing Lovie and adding that additional question mark to next season, after he led a team I don't feel is stacked with talent to the conference championship and what would've certainly been a playoff appearance this year but for Cutler and Forte going down... I don't know. Hate him all you want, he isn't perfect, but I'd take my chances on him for another year or two and see what happens. Hopefully the GM they hire feels like he's inheriting an asset in Lovie Smith and they become a solid team leading this franchise forward.

True. But I don't think Lovie Smith has a bad reputation out there in the league. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the GM candidates thought having Lovie as a coach for their first year (minimum) was a good thing. Gives him an opportunity to focus on the draft this year and then worry about organizational issues next season, if necessary. And I don't want to hear about "drafting for Lovie's scheme" blah blah blah. A good WR or OL guy will fit in no matter what scheme you run. Drafting DB's would be another story, potentially, but you'd have to take that into account.

But all of those decisions have been endorsed by ownership. I'm certain of it. So, again, who cares? I mean, if your point is they should've fired Teddy too, fine. But they didn't so whether the new GM reports to the owner or Ted doesn't f'ing matter. They think he's the cat's meow.

This makes me think they think they're going with Team Polian. I assume they'd be comfortable with Lovie. Not sure what Angelo ever reported up to Teddy but assume that was the structure in place for him too. And everyone has a boss. Don't think that means anything.

Well I think someone else said it in some thread today... The Angelo years were a joy compared to the Wanny years. And things can always get worse. I'll be watching the hiring process closely, as I assume all of you will as well. Let's just hope they take this opportunity to make this a step in the right direction. I've seen too many people in charge of my favorite team over the years that did a terrible job compared to JA. I just hope we aren't missing him in a few years. For all of his failures, he did bring Cutler and Peppers to the team when 31 other teams would've loved to get those assets. And we made it to within 7 points of being in the Superbowl again just last season... I love this team and want only the best for them. Let's hope they don't fu*k it up.

Well said.

I know there's a lot of virtual high fives going on here today but damn if I don't find it a bit premature. Let's take a look... * The Bears are retaining Lovie Smith, a move I approve of, but in the process they're saddling the new GM with a coach he may not want. With that said, it could be that the Bears will really tell the new GM to make his choice and they'll cut Lovie loose later if that's the decision. This is a big unknown. Meanwhile Lovie is left hanging with no OC. * Speaking of that OC, Cutler will need to learn yet another system. This isn't impossible but it doesn't give me warm fuzzies either. Who will it be? Guys, we could end up with Shoop II here. There's NOTHING that says we'll see an improvement over Martz. And who will want to join lame duck Lovie? * Our O Line could improve with some health and a few free agent pickups. Again, an unknown. If we don't improve here I don't care who the man in charge is or who we see at OC. * Our three top players ended the season on IR. Concern? Oh, and one of them is pissed off he didn't get a new deal last year which he obviously deserved. * We have basically crap at WR. I guess I'm raining a little on the parade but today's news isn't all rainbows. Just thought I'd toss a little "reality" out there.

I'm starting to see where the other guys are coming down on this. It seems the older Polian is the genius and he wanted to step back and put his son in charge. So, it seems, the Polian we want, probably won't want to take the job.

The guy in charge is still named Polian. And I'm certain the Polian Team was involved in every personnel move that was made.

According to what I'm reading, Lovie is safe. Based on the results of the last two seasons and what they got out of that O Line, despite injuries and lack of talent, I can say Lovie deserves another year. I know that sentiment isn't generally shared here but it is what it is.

Ha.

One of my buds is a serious Colts fan and he'd agree with you on this. I'd think Polian would be an upgrade over Jerry myself but Polian's drafts, according to my buddy, haven't been very good. When your team loses a QB and you go from Superbowl contender to 2-14, I think the rest of the team is a little suspect. And that's Polian. We'll see. Historically I've been a big JA defender here but gave that up a few years ago when it became apparent JA and I didn't view the importance of the O Line the same way. He's ignored it for too long for me to be sad to see him go.

I agree with everything Mad and Connor say above. It's been so frustrating these last three weeks. I thought Hanie showed enough in the first game he played that with a little growth we'd be fine until Cutler got back. Unfortunately he regressed a lot. I think I was so pissed yesterday I would've cut Barber. After calming down I realize he did some good things yesterday too and we need him at least for the rest of the year. As a change of pace to Forte he has value next year too. Fact is this team was rounding into a pretty good squad and I was looking forward to running into the Pack in the playoffs. Not saying we'd beat them but I'd relish the opportunity. Doesn't look like that dream is going to come true.

I'd sign Orton in a heartbeat. Why would I care about the McCaskey's money? If we have the cap space, spend it! Just our luck, we'll drop Enderle to pick up Kyle and the Packers will put him on their taxi squad and the guy will turn into some wonder-stud in a few years...