Bears Blitz

Published by Gene Chamberlain on January 4, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

LAKE FOREST — The Bears made everyone wait until the season’s final two games to see the true potential of their offense.

A day after the season ended they were still making people wait — this time to learn the fate of the coaching staff. Players cleaned out their lockers Monday after meeting with coaches, and it seemed like business as usual for the last day of a season with one exception.

Instead of holding a Monday post-season press conference, the team pushed Smith’s and/or general manager Jerry Angelo’s annual exit Q and A back to Tuesday at 2 p.m.

It could have significance in terms of the coaching staff’s fate after a third straight non-playoff season. Then again, it could be a matter of the entire organization meeting Monday to get their stories straight on how best to present a course of non-action to the public.

If the organization has decided to eat the final two years and $11 million in salary on Smith’s contract by dispatching him, it didn’t show when coaches met with players Monday.

“Lovie talked to us like we expect everything to be the same next year, like what our goals need to be for 2010 and what we need to do in the off-season to get there,” linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer said. “I know that across the locker room you’ve heard it from a lot of guys, that we think that he should be here.

“I’m under the impression that he will be. I certainly hope he will be, and that’s the way he talked to us today.”

Following Sunday’s 37-23 season-ending win at Detroit, players made it clear they want Smith back. They continued issuing pleas for retention Monday by absorbing blame for their second 7-9 record in three years.

“I believe in coach Smith, so I think when you have people who believe in each other that’s a good start,” linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa said. “That’s one of the big reasons I’m here, so I’m an advocate for Lovie. So I’d be surprised if he’s not here.”

Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, who like Tinoisamoa ended up on injured reserve, thinks Smith can still guide a rapid turnaround. “Anything can change in a heartbeat,” Ogunleye said. “And next year could be the year. So for the way that he’s taken this organization to the Super Bowl and to the NFC championship, I think he deserves a little bit more credit than he’s getting.

“We’re not going to be on top all the time. Even if you’re Bill Belichick or Lovie Smith, you’re going to have your ups and downs.”

The team’s late-season two-game winning streak may or may not weigh down on Smith’s side. The Bears did not lose to a single losing team this year, although five of their seven wins came against the dredges of the league: Seattle (5-11), Cleveland (5-11), St. Louis (1-15) and Detroit (2-14) twice. That’s a 15-65 combined record.

Their losses included two defeats by Green Bay and one each by Minnesota, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Arizona. All were playoff teams.

Missing the playoffs even after bringing in quarterback Jay Cutler may come down harder in favor of getting rid of the offensive coaching staff, or at least coordinator Ron Turner.

With Cutler throwing eight touchdown passes the final two games and wide receiver Devin Aromashodu coming on strong at season’s end, it might look on the surface like Turner’s offense and a line with three new starters finally started to gel.

Then again, maybe it would have happened earlier if Aromashodu had been playing more and the coaches had identified the need to bench left tackle Orlando Pace while moving Chris Williams to left tackle.

Unlike with Smith, no one rushed in to throw their support behind Turner or even quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton. In fact, after Sunday’s finale, Cutler went out of his way to compliment his receivers while still getting in a perceived jab about how they need to be used in a different way.

“I think it’s a bunch of good guys who can grow together and kind of complement each other,” Cutler said of his receivers. “If we get D.A. (Aromashodu) over on the weak side a little bit more with his big body and let those other guys run underneath, it’s going to be fun.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who can take the top off the defense and stretch the field.”

The issue of which players return now comes into play, as well. Speculation has it that center Olin Kreutz could be cut with Josh Beekman waiting in the wings at center, or that defensive tackle may be on the way out.

It’s also possible the team might not pursue free agent defensive end Adewale Ogunleye after Mark Anderson had two sacks, three hurries and a couple tackles for loss in the final two games playing for Ogunleye.

“At the end of the day, I would love to be here in Chicago,” Ogunleye said. “That‘s definite. I love the city. The fans are the best in the country.

“But I don’t beg. I know the kind of player I am: a great leader, a great defensive end who still has a couple years left in the tank. For anybody, I‘m going to be an asset. Hopefully it‘s here. I pray it‘s here. If not, I know that‘s the way the business goes.”

Tinoisamoa, who had signed only a one-year deal, didn’t express as much uncertainty.

 “There’s probably a good chance I won’t be here,” he said. “This is just the business.”

It seems certain he isn’t alone in thinking this. Now the question is whether some of those who think it are coaches.

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