Chicago Bears' biggest off-season move may be hiring Rod Marinelli

Brace yourselves, Bears fans, for the reality that your team's biggest off-season addition when training camp opens won't be a prospect among the 330 here for the NFL combine or any free agent player teams can ...

[Oskee Wow Wow]

If I hadn't been a Bears fan my entire life, I'd jump ship. I don't know. For Buffalo, or Minnesota, or some other totally pathetic organization.

Why the heck do the Bears continue to think that adding members of crappy programs will make our program better?

Oh, Eric Kramer sucked at Detroit. but by golly, he'll be *most awesome* if we get him instead of a good draft pick.

Oh, Rod Marinelli can bang the bells like the hunchback of (hated) Notre Dame and sucked at Detroit, but by golly, we'll hire him and he'll all of a sudden be *awesome*.

They talk about getting Kurt Warner. Seriously? He's older than I am, and I'm getting OLD.

I like Orton because he's a Big Ten guy, but seriously, why can't we get a solid QB? You know, not a back-up guy that "holds his own" while the rest of us hope our (very inadequate) defense wins the game.

We're not a minor market like Cleveland or, well, the state of Tennessee--I know that the McCaskeys are cheap, but for crying out loud. Let's get a GOOD team.

[Peytonsplace]

Angelo is going on the cheap ! have you ever seen him come forward and trade up in a draft? of course not ! him and Smith will be gone in a very short while! how can you truly evaluate Orton when he has no weapons and none seemingly comeing? he calls getting Brandon Lloyed and an over the hill Marty Booker as "trying" the free agent market? he thinks small and gets the results of his thought process !

[Dannie Rios]

I really hope Jerry Angelo gets fired or QUITS....he's the worst general manager in sports.!!

[Ron In Sane Diego]

The good news is this mantra will be the one that JA & Lovie have to live with. If everything pans out, they're golden boys. If not, the are toast, history,...G.O.N.E! Look at the bright side .... by this time next year, the results will be known and we Bear fans could be looking at a whole new administration. Hopefully, an improvment over the current.

[Griff]

Excuse me, but can't we get one of those Long haired Samoan dudes to play free safety or cornerback. After all, Brown is gonna be gone, and Tillman is starting to resemble Walt "Toast" Harris. Pittsburgh has one of those crazy A---- Samoans and so does Arizona. And MAN they play their BUTTS off. Fly around like half crazed WILD man. Gotta get us about 3 of 'em and stick em right behind Urlacher. That'll make that opposing Quarterback think for a minute before he unloads that melon. And a MINUTE is just about enough time for OUR defensive lineman to (FINALLY) get to him. Sounds like a great plan to me. Who's on board with me?

[Otis]

Griff wrote:

Excuse me, but can't we get one of those Long haired Samoan dudes to play free safety or cornerback. After all, Brown is gonna be gone, and Tillman is starting to resemble Walt "Toast" Harris. Pittsburgh has one of those crazy A---- Samoans and so does Arizona. And MAN they play their BUTTS off. Fly around like half crazed WILD man. Gotta get us about 3 of 'em and stick em right behind Urlacher. That'll make that opposing Quarterback think for a minute before he unloads that melon. And a MINUTE is just about enough time for OUR defensive lineman to (FINALLY) get to him. Sounds like a great plan to me. Who's on board with me?

Sounds great to me, I'm in! Here's a good article on Samoans in the NFL:

http://espn.go.com/gen/s/2002/0527/1387562.ht...

[Marc]

We are in BIG trouble. We desperately need a #1 and #3 wideout. We desperately need a DE to replace Ogunleye. We desperately need a starting DB. We need a starting DB. And, realistically, we should start looking at MLB to suceed Urlacher in 2010. Oh, and let's not forget a legitimate RB to spell Forte. Angelo needs to bring in atleast two starters through FA and needs to be spot-on in the draft or we're done.

[brettsky51]

It's hard to argue about Marinelli's ability as a D-Line coach and teacher. Add to it his master motivational ability and things on the D-Line could look better for the Bears in 2009. There is still a solid mix of talent, it may just be getting the most out of the talent, Marinelli should be the man for the job.

monstersofthemidwayillustrated.wordpress.com

[J W Chi]

The addition of Marinelli as Defensive Line Coach and Assistant Head Coach can be a decent move. If they hired Marinelli purely for his Defensive Line Coaching skills, or to take over the Defensive Coordinators job it could be a good move. Good Bye to the Babich debacle.
If it was a move to have him in place to succeed Smith after he is gone it sucks.
Marinelli has had success at the Defensive line coaches position in the past. He also could prove to be a very good Defensive Coordinator. Actually anyone is better than Babich.
only time will tell. Just because he failed quite miserably as a Head Coach in Detroit does not mean he would not be a decent to very good Defensive Coordinator.
With Marinelli's influence will they stick with the Cover 2 or use a 4-3 based Defense as it main Defensive Scheme and use the Cover 2 as a situational Defense? With the Bears present GM and Head Coach only time will tell. So far they are too stupid too see they o not have the personnel to run the Cover 2 Successfully.
OK everyone, get real about Angelo and the draft. Do you for one minute think that Angelo is going to do anything a "REAL" General Manager would do? Trade up in the draft, Trade for more picks? He is going to do the same CRAP he always does stand pat and make the same mistakes he alays doe
He is not committed to putting a "WINNER" on the field.
I am not sure what is wrong with that man. Was it brain damage at birth, or did he work extremely hard at becoming "STUPID"?
He will botch this draft and then say "I cannot figure out why my picks did not pan out", again!
If Angelo screws up this draft and Free Agency he should be fired immediately. It is time for this meat Head to go.
He has had more than enough time to field a winning BEARS team. Actually he could had build a solid core for years to come in the time he has been GM.
If Angelo, Smith and certain other coaches got fired tomorrow it would not be soon enough.
Rebuilding is more tolerable than this mediocrity.

[nyuk nyuk]

Moe, Larry, and Jerry Angelo. Comedy at its best.

[sam]

mr. haugh
as usuall you are full of nonsense marinelli won't make one bit of difference for this team neither would lovie calling the defensive plays.who are we fouling here ourselves? this team needs such major internal cleansing just the way one's bowel needs a heavy duty laxative before colonoscopy.I can't wait to see how you for one will come up with excuses for them when they will stink it up again next season.

[nyuk nyuk]

I assume the Angelo/Marinelli strategy is to go 0-16 and snag that top draft pick. There must be another Curtis Enis or Cade Mcnown out there somewhere.

[Shields Up Captain]

I think getting Marinelli was a really good move but if that's our crown jewel of the off season then we're in trouble given all the needs our team has.

[Bearsnut]

Well guys now that we kick the Bears coaching staff when there down ! What really needs to happen is start looking at whats on the roster and using some of that money instead of just some small back-up rolls, there is a lot of talent on this team being wasted. we all know JA stinks as a GM and Lovie and his Lame no emotion but better start the fire under these guys on the O-Line, the D-Line will bounce back to form

[rifleman]

Jerry - I hate to tell you but signing Booker and LLoyd does nothing to shore up the wide receiving corp. Thank God the Cubs have Jin Hendry

[BearsCubs]

I'll just call it right now: 8-8 in 2009. Case closed.

[GGmoney]

It's great that Rod Marinelli might come in and help Tommie Harris, but his body is toast. When Tommie's body wasn't toast, he played just fine. Who knows Marinelli may help the overall line, but we NEED the tackle to disrupt.

Anyway, I hope this is all a bluff, da Bears stance. How do you not go after a Eugene Wilson & Houzmanzdeh. The Cincy wideout is a great route runner and would be Orton's go to. I agree with the other comment, how can you evaluate Orton without some wideouts. He had a nice rapport with Lloyd until he got hurt and then milked his injury...what a wuss. Nice call on that one Ron Turner.

And Orton, he needs to show he can hit the long one. If not, the offense from the 2nd half of the season may be the one we see. So how can you not go after a Chris Simms, a legitimate starter in the NFL, if Orton doesn't prove it. Because Turner was calling some good games in the 1st half of the season, not a huge Turner fan. Why did that change, defenses adjusting to Orton not be able to throw a deep ball or because Turner went downhill, or wast it both.

This is a sad regime from this article. I just don't see how Angelo can stand pat, otherwise he should be gone after another 6-10 year. You would think...

I got gas yesterday and Angelo's first two picks were pumping my gas....Grossman and Michael Haynes. Nice picks, don't think Bill Polian has missed in 16 years. You missed on your first try...love tradin down you loser.

[Joel]

C'mon man... You tried that last year and paid dearly? You signed over the hill and average WR's. You should pay dearly for that. Go after Houshmanzadeh who at 31 is much better than Muhammed. Pray Crabtree drops to 18, however he won't. The best bet is to draft another lineman.

[Wooly Bully]

Dannie Rios wrote:

I really hope Jerry Angelo gets fired or QUITS....he's the worst general manager in sports.!!

.....behind Johnny Pax - the resident genius across town at the Chicago Bulls......

[Root Cause]

This will be Angelo's last draft...I hope he selects well improve the skill level level for the new GM and coach arriving next year.