Bears face 'tough sell'
After three weeks, the Bears' search for coordinators has produced few results.
The perception around Chicago is that top candidates are reluctant to join a coaching staff that basically has a "win or else" mandate for 2010. Why take a job with the Bears (and possibly be fired next January) when the Seahawks, Redskins and other teams offer more job security?
That perception is true around the nation, as well. National football writer Peter King of Sports Illustrated chimed in this weekend about the Bears' coaching search.
"Coaches see Lovie might be dead man walking in '10," King said. "Tough sell."
King elaborated in his weekly column titled "Monday Morning Quarterback."
"It's amazing how few people with existing jobs want to work under Lovie Smith in Chicago," King said. "That always says as much about how tenuous a head coach's job security is as anything else. ...
"Remember eight months ago," King wrote, "when Jerry Angelo could have run for mayor in Chicago after the Jay Cutler trade? Seems like eight years ago."
Several reasons could help to clarify the lack of progress in the Bears' coaching search. As King wrote, they might have trouble recruiting top candidates. They might want to interview a half-dozen candidates before choosing the right one. Or they simply might be inept.
The team also could be waiting to interview coaching candidates from the Colts or Saints after Super Bowl XLIV. Colts assistant Alan Williams has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the defensive coordinator job because of his work with the "Cover 2" defense under former Colts coach Tony Dungy, who is a trusted friend of Bears coach Lovie Smith.
The Bears insist that their coaching search is going as planned. They claim that Jeremy Bates (who went to Seattle) and Perry Fewell (who joined the Giants) were not the team's top choices for offensive and defensive coordinator. They say plenty of coaches want to join the Bears.
As King would say, that's a tough sell.
-Tom Musick
