Bears Blitz

Published by Michael Gibbons on February 7, 2012
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears announced on Tuesday that they have hired Jeremy Bates to be their QB coach and passing game coordinator.

Seriously, what the hell? I thought they wanted nothing to do with him.

Less than a month ago, league sources were saying that the Bears had no interest in Bates. They were also saying the relationship between Bates and Jay Cutler was being over played.

Bates was the QB coach in Denver for two seasons while Jay Cutler was with the Broncos. During the 2008 season, Bates reportedly took on more of the play-calling duties, and Cutler had his best season as a pro, throwing for over 4500 yards and 25 touchdowns.

You may remember that Bates was in the running for the Bears offensive coordinator job two years ago, but he turned it down to take the same job with the Seattle Seahawks. The job ended up going to Mike Martz, and you know the rest.

What you may not know is that Bates was fired after one season in Seattle and didn’t coach anywhere last season.

Much like two years ago when the Bears denied interest in Martz, they did the same with Bates this time around. They went around and interviewed a bunch of guys just to end up where we all thought they would all along.

Jay Cutler had this to say about the Bates hire: “I’m very excited to be working with Jeremy Bates again. We got the right guy for the job.”

Lovie Smith had this to say about the newest addition to his staff:

His history with Jay was a big thing, and not just history with Jay but a good history, a productive history with him helping Jay as a quarterback. 

I did a lot of research, and I think Jeremy is a perfect fit. Did we look at other guys? Yes, we did. Every time we have an opening, I look at everybody available. I even waited to see who would be available so I could see what the pool really looked like.

Even though we had only brought in one guy (former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Greg Olson), I had been talking to a lot of guys. But in the end, it was Jeremy by a landslide.

Reportedly, Smith interviewed Bates last week in Tampa, and then Bates met with offensive coordinator Mike Tice sometime after that.

Why does it seem like the Bears and Lovie Smith are always settling? Whether it’s the offensive side or defensive side of the ball, it seems like, year after year, coaches say no to the opportunity to be part of Smith’s staff. Could this be the Ron Rivera effect?

Shouldn’t Tice have been leading the search for the guy he is going to work with?

It just seems like the Bears continue to make mistake after mistake. Two years ago, they hired Tice before hiring Martz. They fired Jerry Angelo and then came up with a plan of what they wanted.

I haven’t even mentioned repeating the same mistake of forcing a GM to keep on a head coach. I honestly could go on all day about the Bears’ mistakes, but I won’t.

Do you think the hiring of Bates was a good one? Can he and Tice coexist? Sound off below.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter @dachicagofan, and check out my weekly Bears podcast every Monday on my site The MG Experience.

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