Chip Shots: Bears Make Changes-Sort Of

Chip Shots
A Sports Blog

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I'm Chip Ramsey a career broadcaster who has been a sports radio program director in Milwaukee and Nashville. I've covered everything from high school and college sports (including the SEC, Big Ten, MVC and OVC) to Major League Baseball, The NFL and the NHL. I have a few things to say, and when I want to say them, I say them here.

I mostly talk about my teams, which would be the White Sox, Bears, and Blackhawks, but I do talk about other things as well. Thanks for dropping by. I hope you will bookmark this site and visit often!

Chip's broadcast career

Chip Shots: Bears Make Changes-Sort Of

Bears Make Changes-Sort Of

If Charles Dickens were a Bears fan, he would have definitely called yesterday "the best of time and the worst of times."

It was a great seven hours from the time it was announced that General Manager and later Offensive Coordinator had been put in a van and driven to O'Hare. But the euphoria ended shortly after 4pm, the minute team president Ted Phillips opened his mouth.

Having Ted Phillips lead your search for a new GM is like enlisting the help of Stevie Wonder to help you find your car in an airport parking lot.

And what's more, it was Ted at his smarmy, arrogant best. "Eleven years ago, I hired Jerry Angelo," he crowed. How did that work out for you, Ted? Phillips went on to explain that whoever takes on the job will have Lovie Smith as his coach in 2012. What's more, Smith will be asked to come in and help interview the candidates. Isn't that like the tail wagging the dog.

All successful operations are constructed from the top down. Ownership, finance, General Manager and then head coach. You hire a GM based on his success elsewhere and he sets the vision for the organization. The GM must be allowed to hire and fire his own people in accordance with his vision. Do you think Theo Epstein would have signed up for the Cubs gig had he been told that he HAD to keep Mike Quade?

But not in Ted Phillips' world. Ted says the Lovie issue is non-negotiable and that any GM would be "proud to work with Lovie Smith." Maybe so, but if that candidate doesn't think he can win with Lovie Smith, he's either screwed or not taking the job. Ted Thompson took over the Packers with Mike Sherman on board and promptly dumped him after one season. It took Angelo three seasons to rid himself of Dick Jauron. In both cases, it mearly slowed down the progress of both teams. In the end, it seemed to work out better for Thompson.

What the Bears are actually looking for is a pro personnel director, not a GM Of course, Ted Phillips, who is a bean counter, doesn't have the football sense to know that. There children, lies the rub. The man who is doing the hiring is clueless as to what he should be hiring.

It's not just a talent gap the Bears are looking at, it's a coaching gap. Why does a second string quarterback for the Packers play in his only game of the year and throw six touchdowns for the JV? Coaching. Why does Caleb Hanie make Jonathan Quinn look like Tom Brady? Coaching. The thing about coaching is you have to coach up who you have and if your second string is terrible, you have to either coach them up or let them go. The Bears did neither and that falls squarely at the feet of both Angelo and Smith. And to fire one and not the other isn't improving your organization, it's hamstringing it.