Bears Blitz

Published by Andrea Hangst on January 3, 2012
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

There was a major shakeup in the Chicago Bears‘ front office and coaching staffs today as general manager Jerry Angelo, offensive coordinator Mike Martz and quarterbacks coach Shane Day are all out of jobs after a disappointing 8-8 2011 season.

The housecleaning was long overdue; the Bears, under Angelo’s control the past 10 years, have been terrible in the NFL draft, and the results have reverberated through the franchise season after season. Missing pieces remained unfound while the roster became populated with players who never went anywhere.

Further complicating matters was Martz’s presence on the coaching staff. His overwrought offensive system cost him jobs in San Francisco, Detroit and St. Louis, and it was a baffling hire when he joined the Bears two seasons ago.

The Bears, traditionally a run-oriented team that augments its ground game with the pass, chose to bring in a West Coast-style coordinator without the personnel necessary to execute it and without a GM knowledgeable enough to draft the necessary players.

With Angelo and Martz (and Martz’s hand-picked quarterback coach Day) out the door, it presents yet another opportunity for the team to start from scratch and find a system that suits their players’ strengths.

However, it seems a bit surprising that Martz, Angelo and Day are out the door but head coach Lovie Smith remains.

Smith hasn’t been the model of coaching success in his eight seasons with the team, but he has been able to deflect most of the blame by assigning it to his offensive coordinators, of which Martz was his third.

In Smith’s tenure as the Bears’ head coach, they were above .500 four times, below it three times and 8-8 in 2011. They’ve reached the playoffs three times and the Super Bowl once, but haven’t been able to carry the momentum of a successful season into the next.

Much of this has to do with Smith’s laid-back coaching style. But with so little discipline having been shown by Bears ownership and management, it’s only fitting that the head coach also lack intensity.

Despite that, it does make sense that the Bears chose to retain Smith.

There’s been a revolving door in the Chicago coaching staff for some time, and if Smith had been fired (or resigned) as well, it would continue the pattern of instability that would likely only serve to harm the Bears in the 2012 season.

Furthermore, it seems as though the Bears players thoroughly like Smith and his coaching style and have been just as frustrated with Martz and Angelo as their fans who have called for the firing of the two men for years.

One would think that if the team is so interested in going in a different direction in 2012, that it might cost Smith his job as well. But losing Smith would cost the Bears a lot more than retaining him for another year.

Clearly, this is a make-or-break 2012 season for Smith; if things do not improve offensively, if their draft strategy isn’t better thought out, then this is likely Smith’s last year with the Bears. He deserves a chance to prove his worth without the incompetent meddling of Angelo or the ill-fitting offensive play-calling of Martz impacting both his and the Bears’ futures.

Now that Smith is going to find himself with more freedom, hopefully with a more appropriate offensive coordinator and a potentially effective general manager, he has the opportunity to flourish.

This is the one true chance the Bears have to see what Smith is capable of, practically unfettered. He should embrace this challenge, rise to it and prove to his critics once and for all that it’s not him who is the problem, it’s those other guys, the ones who don’t have jobs today, that truly deserve the blame.

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