Mike Shanahan Should Have a Future in Chicago
Published by Josh Herman on November 15, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Bears fans worldwide know that something’s wrong with their team.
After taking a chance on a disgruntled quarterback and basically trading away the team’s future (no draft picks in the first two rounds in 2009 or 2010), questions are being answered and potential solutions are being sought.
Does the blame fall squarely on the quarterback’s shoulders? Doubtful.
Were the losses of key linebackers Brian Urlacher and Pisa Tinoisamoa too much to overcome? Nick Roach and Hunter Hillenmeyer are nowhere near as talented as those two but the team’s defense has been the least of their problems excluding the Bengals and Cardinals game.
Where the blame lies is in the personnel, most notably Jerry Angelo, Lovie Smith, and Ron Turner.
Angelo decided to take a chance at getting a young and very talented quarterback, a position the Bears have been looking for production out of since Reagan was in office.
But that’s not the reason he made my list.
The reason I’m scrutinizing Angelo trickles down to the other two names on my list. He traded for a gun-slinging, still-developing quarterback and brought him into an offense that’s more suitable for a Kyle Orton-esque player.
And instead of changing the offense to play to your team’s best offensive player, Lovie stayed with his traditionalist ways. He said “We’re a running football team” enough times during training camp/preseason/regular season that most people would’ve thought that a guy named Payton was still suiting it up for Chicago.
So maybe this game plan didn’t seem so bad at the beginning of the season. The Bears returned stud rookie Matt Forte in the backfield and the down-field option that Cutler now brought to the table would force defenses to no longer stack the box, opening holes for Forte all over the field.
But, and this comes back to Angelo, we forgot about the guys that have to make those holes, the offensive line.
Not only did Angelo decide to move the Bears’ top draft pick in 2008, Chris Williams, to an unnatural position in right tackle, he also brought in washed-up future Hall-of-Famer Orlando Pace to block Cutler’s blind side.
That wasn’t even the worst move on the o-line. Angelo felt it necessary to sign an offensive guard with only one career start to a four-year $14 million deal, instead of trying out 2007 fourth-round pick Josh Beekman at left guard.
Now all you have is the worst blindside blocking personnel in the league and the least athletic offensive line in Lovie Smith’s tenure. So Coach, what’s our offensive gameplan? Don’t make me say it again.
So where do the Bears go from here?
It seems as if there’s a rather obvious option out there. A head coach who has been a part of three Super Bowl championship teams, two of them as the main signal caller. A head coach who’s local to the Chicago area. A head coach who knows our quarterback. A head coach who runs the ball because he’s successful at it, not because it’s the only thing he knows.
Yes, I’m talking about Mike Shanahan.
The Oak Park native provides the fire and passion that a head coach must exhibit.
Not only does he run the ball, he’s been one of the most successful coaches at it over the past twenty years.
Shanahan knows how to build offensive lines and turn guys like Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary, and Mike Anderson into 1,000-yard rushers. Can you imagine what he could do with a guy who wasn’t picked in the sixth round?
Cutler will be happier because now teams will have to stack the box and his big arm will finally be able to open up the field, especially with speedy receivers like Devin Hester and Johnny Knox. And with Cutler stuck here for the next few years, it would be a good thing to keep him happy.
Shanahan is a proven winner, something that’s starved the city of Chicago since His Airness left for browner pastures.
So Jerry Angelo, let’s say goodbye to Lovie and his traditionalism and Ron Turner and his inept ability to call every wrong play in the book and let’s say hello to a guy with true Chicago grittiness and the ability to get the most out of his running game.
And who knows, if Shanahan did a good enough job, he may just be able to save Angelo his.
Special thanks to my friend Aaron Krause for bringing such a great idea to mind.
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