Bears Blitz

Published by Gene Chamberlain on February 16, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Former Bears coach Mike Ditka coined the phrase “Grabowskis” for his 1985 Super Bowl team when they prepared to play the Los Angeles Rams for the NFC championship.

He referred to the Bears as Grabowskis and the Rams as “Smiths.”

The Bears were the colorful, blue collar, hard-working group with a lot of personality while the Rams were considered an anonymous bunch without distinction.

The Bears have come full circle now: They are the Smiths—quite literally.  Everything about the Bears has coach Lovie Smith’s stamp on it. And everything about them is bland and run of the mill.

The lastest Smith stamp came Monday when the team announced the firing of pro player personnel director Bobby DePaul.

While the Bears’ personnel department has struggled drafting productive players in recent years, the one area they have fared well at is acquiring free agents or NFL players through trades.

That was DePaul’s department. He helped bring the franchise its first legitimate starting quarterback since Erik Kramer when he helped engineer the Jay Cutler trade. 

Over the course of the past six seasons, DePaul has been instrumental at bringing in players like former tackles John Tait and Fred Miller, guard Ruben Brown, running back Thomas Jones, wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, and defensive tackle Anthony Adams.

The personnel department’s record is far better with free agents and trades, but DePaul did also have a hand in the Ricky Manning Jr. fiasco, the trading of safety Chris Harris, the acquisition of completely useless defensive tackle Darwin Walker, and the signing of guard Frank Omiyale, who still could wind up being a decent acquisition.

He also was involved in the signing of tackle Orlando Pace and the acquisition of safety Adam Archuleta, but pinning those mistakes on him would be a huge mistake—coach Lovie Smith, after all, likes his ex-Rams.

DePaul’s personality never did mesh well with Smith. DePaul didn’t mind talking to media occasionally and he was a very colorful, outgoing type; he wasn’t always one to give out the company line. Smith is the company line and wants everything kept under wraps in Halas Hall.

When Smith wanted to hire Marinelli as defensive coordinator in 2004, but general manager Jerry Angelo wouldn’t let him, it was through DePaul’s past relationship with the Philadelphia Eagles that Ron Rivera ended up at Halas Hall as defensive coordinator and Dave Toub as special teams coordinator.  Of course, Rivera and Smith eventually didn’t see eye to eye and Rivera was let go, just like DePaul.

So it wouldn’t be surprising to find that DePaul’s departure had something to do with a disagreement of some type with Smith.

It has been reported by Comcast television in Chicago that the Bears had to have security chief Tom Dillon escort DePaul from the premises when he was dismissed, much like Tank Johnson was escorted from the premises when he got in trouble with the law.  So it couldn’t have been an amicable parting of the ways.

Further evidence of this is the fact it came less than three weeks from the start of the unrestricted free agency period. Free agency is going to have to be a key method for improving talent this year for the Bears because they lack draft picks in the first two rounds. Letting go of the key player for your personnel department in free agency with so little time left to bring in someone else looks like a potential disaster.

Speculation in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times is that Tim Ruskell, the former Seattle executive who was with the Bucs during the Angelo-Tony Dungy era, will be hired.

If this is the case, at least they are bringing in someone with experience.
However, another voice with past ties to Smith and Angelo is the last thing the franchise needs. They need dissenting voices, someone with a different viewpoint who doesn’t provide a rubber stamp.

They’ve already brought in Smith’s buddy, Mike Martz, as offensive coordinator, promoted his friend Rod Marinelli to defensive coordinator, and let him keep Bob Babich as linebackers coach after he failed as coordinator. Last year, they hired Smith’s son Mikal as an assistant even though he lacked credentials for this position.

It’s not  easy to name a head NFL coach who has been to the playoffs only twice in his first six seasons and has still been allowed to have four different defensive coordinators and three different offensive coordinators. 

Normally, someone with that kind of personnel hiring record is fired without question.

But the ruling McCaskey clan didn’t want to eat $11 million for Smith, plus millions more by hiring another coach and possibly even lose more money by firing Angelo.

So Smith has been allowed to linger on, and has been given everything he wants to run this team. His influence now apparently has carried over from his coaching staff to the front office.

There’s no doubt who’s going to deserve the blame then if the 2010 season develops in much the same way the 2007, 2008, and 2009 seasons did.

And anyone who facilitated the Bears’ conversion into “Smiths” needs to be held responsible, as well.

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