CEO Phillips shows he can play 'D'
Bears exec defends decision to wait on new Lovie deal
When the Bears last went to the Super Bowl, Ted Phillips was charged with handling their fleet of rental cars.
He won't be handing out keys when the charter flight touches down in Miami on Sunday afternoon. Phillips, the Bears' president and chief executive officer who delivered a new stadium four years ago, is presiding over a run to Super Bowl XLI while serving as inspiration for controllers everywhere. He has some accounting to do after the season, though, in terms of signing coach Lovie Smith to a long-term contract.
Having led the Bears back to the NFL's grandest stage after a 21-year hiatus, Smith already ranks fifth on the team's all-time victories list with 31 in only three seasons. Now, he's on the verge of becoming the highest-paid coach in franchise history.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
''I'm not embarrassed at all,'' Phillips said of Smith's standing among his peers. ''When we signed Lovie, it was a market-value contract for coaches who had not been a head coach in the NFL. He received a fair deal, and he'll receive a fair deal again.
''It was my prerogative not to do a short-term fix last year. That's what a lot of you were clamoring for. I don't believe in that. I said it last year that once I felt that -- and I used the term 'fit,' I believe -- was right, we would look at a long-term contract extension.''
Preliminary talks with Bauer have taken place, and Phillips said last month that a deal wasn't contingent on playoff success. You can bet top dollar Smith's camp will make it contingent on playoff success now.
Had the Bears offered to double Smith's contract in March, he still would be working at a bargain rate. Now, they will have to quadruple it to push him past what the Atlanta Falcons paid Bobby Petrino, who also had no previous NFL head-coaching experience. It's hard to envision Smith settling for less than $5 million annually.
''I said it last year: It wasn't about the money,'' said Phillips, who was adamant that Smith won't be leaving for another team. ''I just wanted to make sure. I wanted a long-term answer, and that's what we're headed toward. What the market is, the money's going to work itself out.''
Also looming is a new deal for general manager Jerry Angelo. Then there are the matters of pro personnel director Bobby DePaul and college scouting director Greg Gabriel. Both came on board with Angelo in the summer of 2001 and have constructed a roster that has only five holdovers from the previous regime on the 53-man active roster.
Factor in that defensive coordinator Ron Rivera and special-teams coordinator Dave Toub also are coming out of contracts, and the Bears have some work to do before contemplating the NFL scouting combine in a month.
''We know we're going to have some attrition,'' said Angelo, nearly admitting not all will return. ''Sometimes people get rewarded, and they move on to different jobs. That's always a feather in our organization's cap -- with coaches, with staff and you know we see it with players. We want to keep them all, but we know we can't do that.''
The rest of the morning was largely a reflection on the success the Bears have pieced together in the last six seasons, starting with Phillips' hiring of Angelo. Angelo found himself on the field with his wife, Bernie, after the blowout of the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship Game.
''It just hit me that's the first time I've been on the field during a game since I've been here,'' he said. ''I've always believed this is a coaches' and a players' league. My presence down there doesn't really mean a damn thing to winning. Maybe to losing, but certainly not to winning. When I got down there, I can't even explain to you the feeling just to watch.
''I looked up in that stadium, it looked like -- I guess you have to go back to the colonnades, back in the Roman days. And just seeing that and the cheering, and thank God the thumbs were going this way [pointing up]. It was a great feeling. I can't even describe it. It's why we do what we do.''
The Super Bowl will be a special moment for Phillips and Angelo. The Bears have reached the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1990-91. The key after the game will be working to maintain that success, as so few franchises can do.
''There have been some exceptions,'' Phillips said. ''We'd like to be one of those exceptions. We've been in the playoffs the last two years, and we think we can continue that. We've tried to build it for success now and for the long term. I think we're in pretty good shape that way.''