Bears to go on hunt for new coaching staff

At least seven new coaches will comprise Lovie Smith’s 2010 coaching staff.  He is back for a seventh season, but not as defensive coordinator while Ron Turner and five aides were bounced.
 
“The status quo is not acceptable,” said Bears President/CEO Ted Phillips. “The changes we made are significant and we think they will have an immediate impact.”
 
General Manager Jerry Angelo called the hiring of a new offensive coordinator for centerpiece quarterback Jay Cutler the most important decision under his watch since the hiring of Smith as head coach.
 
“This is a very important decision,” said Angelo. “I feel confident we’re going to get it right.”
 
Former Rams head coach Mike Martz is hopeful he gets a call from Smith, while Cutler is closely tied to current USC coordinator Jeremy Bates, who called plays for Cutler’s Broncos in 2008 while serving as quarterback coach.
 
“I think an offensive guy would want to come here and have a chance to work with a Jay Cutler,” said head coach Lovie Smith. “To have a chance to mold some of the young receivers and get the offense back on track.”
Smith said his search will be thorough and he will take his time.
 
He is also looking for a defensive coordinator. 
 
“I felt like last year me being in that position was the best thing to do. I feel differently after going through this season.”
 
Recently fired Bills interim head coach and defensive coordinator Perry Fewell is a possible candidate.  He was the secondary coach for Smith in 2005 before landing the Buffalo gig. 
 
Any new voice will run Smith’s scheme. And the head coach strongly defended his base cover-two, gap control system.
 
“As long as I’m the head football coach here that’s something that I believe in,” Smith said. “
We will keep continuing to make our scheme better.”
 
Smith’s said his return for a seventh season does not come with a “win or else” ultimatum from ownership, but he understands the pressure to win is greater than it has ever been since his arrival in 2004.
 
“No one has to tell me that,” said Smith. “Every year I’ve started a season as the head football coach I felt like we needed to win…then…that year…nothing has changed at all. It’s the same routine you go through…every year.”
 
And Phillips expects it in 2010.
 
“This isn’t a long-term project in my eyes.” Phillips said.  “No one did a good enough job in this organization. Nobody did. We know it’s a bottom line business and we are not asking for patience.” 
 
That unvarnished and candid approach left no doubt about how every aspect of the organization will be evaluated moving forward.
 
“We need better players. We need to do a better job drafting. We need to do a better job in personnel acquisition. We need to do a better job coaching…and we’ll do that…it will get done…I ‘m confident.”
 
Angelo continued to defend the quality of his roster as he has for several weeks. 
 
“It’s still a league of player development,” Angelo said. “We will be on track to do that with a good nucleus in the off-season.”
 
“We are who we are. We know we have to do a better job, but that does not mean we have a bad roster. We are not going to sit here and throw stones at the roster…we all had a part in the roster. My finger prints are on it just like the coaches and the players themselves.”
 
“I did not do as good a job at that as what I needed to going into last year. You first have to know what’s broke and define that accurately.”
 
Angelo said the Bears have 62 players under contract coming back in 2010.  For now, the Bears have five draft picks and room for thirteen additional spots for procurement in veteran free agency or college free agency.
 
Regarding assistant coaches, the Bears removed offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, quarterback coach Pep Hamilton, tight end coach Rob Boras, and offensive assistants Luke Butkus and Charles London. 
 
They have retained running backs coach Tim Spencer and receivers coach Darryl Drake plus all the defensive and special teams coaches.
 
WBBM spoke with fired offensive coordinator Ron Turner Tuesday afternoon.  He didn’t agree with the decision, holds no ill will towards the organization he worked in for nine years, and feels he and his staff did the best that he could with what he had to work with.
 
“No question about it,” Turner said. “I think the development definitely was there. We had a lot of new faces coming in and the ones that we had did a good job of developing.”
 
“You don’t just plug in three new offensive lineman like we did this year and three receivers that have never played with a new quarterback in the system and make it click right away. That part of it was tough.”
 
Turner feels the key to Jay Cutler’s long-term development is continuity of the starting lineup.
 
“You saw plays being made the last couple weeks that weren’t made early in the year because the confidence level wasn’t there and they were not in synch together and that was starting to come. If that comes and that gets better Jay is going to get better. He’s a very talented player. It’s more about the players around him than anything else.
 
Turner was fired with one year left on his contract.