Put Bears brass on firing line
I've been wondering since 4:15 Sunday afternoon how precipitously the Bears have to tumble for the right changes to be made. Not changes like Josh Beekman over Frank Omiyale, or a few more carries for Garrett Wolfe instead of the tap-dancing Matt Forte.
The changes I reference are the nameplates on the biggest offices at Halas Hall. General Manager. Head Coach.
Would a loss to the Cleveland Tomato Cans hasten the firings of Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith? Do the Bears have to lose out for Team McCaskey to be business people instead of North Shore heirs and heiresses partaking in a family hobby?
''The Stepford Wives Bears.''
It's a long shot the Bears would make changes. They're on the hook for a lot of money with Smith and Angelo, and there's little history of the Bears admitting mistakes and biting off lofty salaries. A boy can dream, though.
As Smith sits at the three-eighths mark of the season (the guy is good at football math, so I want to play along), he is well en route to missing the playoffs for the third straight season. Dick Jauron was cut loose two years after a 13-3 finish. The Bears took a hit, but Jauron wasn't making $4.5 million, which Smith will be paid the next two seasons.
The Bears have passed out ample servings of unearned money the last few seasons. Examples include generosity extended to the post-injured-and-now-finished Tommie Harris, Brian Urlacher (training-camp-pout money two summers ago), Omiyale and the also-finished Orlando Pace.
But I'm not convinced even 3-13 would mean the end of Angelo or Smith. That's too bad because three years of no playoffs since Super Bowl XLI should not be the standard.
I don't suspect Virginia McCaskey is going to tap Ted Phillips and say ''Yeah, let's swallow a bitter pill and clean house. Then we go get one of the half-dozen Super Bowl-winning coaches who are sitting by the phone waiting for their next challenge.''
That would be more un-Bearlike than the last real good thing Gentleman Jerry did when he traded for Jay Cutler. There's no way we'd catch the Bears thinking progressively twice in less than a year, would we?
Barring Cutler, the Bears' business model is wallowing in the mire. Gone are high-round draft picks (for Cutler and Gaines Adams). They need at least three new beefcakes on the offensive line. Their secondary is dreadful. Kickers excepted, Lance Briggs is the only consistent high-level performer on the team. Smith's choices for assistants, including his stubborn defensive coordinator -- himself -- earn very low grades.
Angelo has hit some home runs in the later rounds, but those are getting to be ancient victories, too.
I'm not sold yet on Johnny Knox, the fifth-round pick who gives the Bears hope at wide receiver. Danieal Manning is iffy at best. Mark Anderson looks much more like a Day 2 draft pick than he did when he harassed quarterbacks in his 2006 rookie season. Does Earl Bennett inspire confidence?
Sunday's quick surrender in Cincinnati gave even the most staunch Bears enthusiasts/apologists a reason to peel back every layer of the franchise and inspect it. Not that I'm an ''I told you so'' guy, but I did.
Smith had this much right Monday when he assessed the wreckage: ''We're 3-3.'' Accurate math again. Give him a gold star. And five-eighths of the season remains.
That doesn't mean the sky isn't falling. Regardless of numbers.
Dan McNeil hosts a sports-talk show from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays on WSCR-AM (670).