NFL Black Monday: Because you can't fire the owner

Bears, Jets, Falcons, 49ers and you could add the Redskins to the list. The common thread is all except the "Skins just released their coach and / or their GM on Black Monday, but also that each one of these franchises has either bad or overly meddlesome and clueless ownership.

You can't fire the owner. I guess you can make the suggestion however.



The 49ers CEO said he and Harbaugh parted ways due to "philosophical differences". what does that mean? One wanted to win and one wanted to lose? The 49ers say they wanted more of a teacher and yet their ex-coach is going back to his alma-mater Michigan, where presumably he will have to be.......more of a teacher. Seems like they may have been closer philosophically than either imagined. Or maybe there was more to it.

In the Bears case, I guess you can't fire the QB either. Not after you just made him the highest paid QB in the league. And surrounded him with weapons. And gave him an offensive minded coach to replace the defensive minded coach who was presumably holding him back.  Hmmmm......what am I missing here? Something about the first law of holes....?

The Bears just keep ordering more shovels and hiring more ditch diggers. 

Goooooooooooo Bears!!! 

BEARS TRADE KYLE ORTON

THIS IS WHAT BEAR FANS WILL LOOK LIKE WHEN THEY REALIZE WHAT HAPPENED

Are you kidding me? Kyle Orton for Jay Cutler straight up is not a good deal.

And we had to throw in two first round-picks and a third round pick for a fifth rounder. Can somebody explain to GM Jerry Angelo that while, of course a ONE and a ONE and a THREE do indeed equal a FIVE--or at least they did when he was in third grade--in the NFL draft, ones and threes are valuable commodities and fives are throwaway items.
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Apparently the face of the Bears, Brian Uhrlacher, was not impressed when he initially heard the news:

"I guess the Bears felt like we needed another quarterback, so they made a move," Urlacher told the Chicago Tribune. "They gave up a lot. Cutler must be pretty good."

"I guess we got better as a team," Urlacher added, according to the newspaper. "You get a quarterback who is a Pro Bowl guy. But I will say this: I think Kyle Orton is a good quarterback. He's a great teammate. I hope he does really well in Denver."

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I guess we got better??? Hardly a ringing endorsement of the deal.

And the reason may lie in a little digging through the stats of the two QB's in question. Sure, Jay Cutler wins the QB rating game and the fantasy guys love him, but as Herman Edwards said once: "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. HELLO!!"

In this regard Kyle Orton is way ahead of Cutler:

Cutler W-L Record
2006 2-3-0
2007 7-9-0
2008 8-8-0
Total 17-20-0

A less than .500 record with a team that has a decent running game, a good offensive line and playoff/Super Bowl aspirations. Not one season above the .500 mark so far.

Orton W-L Record
2005 10-5-0
2007 2-1-0
2008 9-6-0
Total 21-12-0

Hmmm, twice over .500 and with a team that arguably gave him less to work with compared to what Denver gave to Cutler.
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And as Orton demonstrated by vanquishing Rex Grossman, intangibles do seem to matter. And Kyle Orton has never been found to want in the intangibles department as demonstrated by the following famous pics from his time in Chicago.

ORTON BEING A GOOD TEAMMATE - TAKING CARE OF HIS BOYS



AND THE LADIES SEEM TO LIKE HIM AS WELL - WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK FOR?


I'm not knocking Orton here. Namath and some others before and since have been able to pull off the Playboy/QB daily double. In the end, fans care about results.
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On balance, the ultimate winner may end up being Kyle Orton. He goes from an unimaginative, pedestrian offensive game plan to a Head Coach who made his bones developing QB's. Plus those draft picks are really going to sway this deal to Denver's side long-term.

The Bears seem to be throwing a late-game, Hail Mary pass hoping that Cutler can invigorate the offense. It would help if they drafted or signed a couple of guys who are capable of doing something on the other end of his throws.

Super Sunday - Recap

Going in this was going to be a no lose situation for me.

If the Bears win, I'm happy for the home-team, my neighbors and friends will be happy, people around here were all geeked up, in spite of the recent zero degree weather we've been having.

If the Colts win, the phrase "It couldn't happen to a nicer guy" almost doesn't do it justice.

For Tony Dungy to win the Super Bowl, as one of the most well repected coaches in all of sports, and more importantly, the classiest and most dignified men in sports, you had to root for him to get his just due this time around. It puts to rest the phrase, "nice guys finish last" and may be a model for coaches personality and behavior in the future, both on and off the field. Maybe we can dream a little, but I'm sure old habits will die hard.

The best part of the game was the halftime show, featuring Prince. One of the best guitarists in history, Prince did not let the crowd down. I thought he belted it right out of the park. It was awesome to see "Purple Rain" played with purple back lighting in a driving rainstorm. How can it get any better? If I didn't know better, I'd say God wanted to jam with Prince. They could have delayed the game a little longer IMO and let Prince really get down some with one of his signature songs.

PRINCE IS *&^%$#@ AWESOME. There had to be cigarette lighters going off in living rooms all over the country. HAHA.

The second half of the game was almost anti-climactic. The Super Bowl commericals certainly were. That sound you may have heard in the background while you were watching the game, was a giant flushing down the toilet of all the advertisement dollars that went to waste producing some of that drivel. Most of them had to be recycled product, since I'm sure I've seen a lot of them before. Must be one of them there "paradigm shifts" in the ad industry. Oh well, who cares, really? I'm just mad that I held it in for some of that, could have busted a bladder or something. Pisses me off, no pun intended. Maybe this TIVO thing is here to stay after all.

Congrats to the Colts. Maybe next year, the right Manning will win the big one. I hope Eli doesn't go a day without hearing, "Why can't you be more like Peyton?" He'll either man-up and get better as a QB or go psycho or something and flame out. Either way the Giants can get serious and find a decent QB. Again to dream.....

The best thing about the game really is we are now one day closer to hearing the magic words, Pitchers and Catchers Report in x # of days......I need something like that to get through these @#$%^&* below zero Chicago days, either that or the SI Swimsuit issue. ;)~

Hell, who needs Punxsutawney Phil?

Super Sunday - Bears will Roll

unfortunately for Tony Dungy, who I would like to see win as much as anyone. It's just that he's got his fate in Peytron Manning's hands and his history in big games is not good. He ought to be as giddy as a cranked-out schoolgirl Super Sunday.

Speaking of which, Rex Grossman may be in approximately the same condition for about an hour after kick-off or so. I predict two or three Pick-Sixes in this game.

If Lovie Smith listens to me and installs the "direct snap to Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson offense" we ought to be seeing our second ticker tape parade in Chi-town since we've been here. (see White Sox).

In fact, I'm kind off getting used to this. In Tampa, we where able to see the Bucs reverse their decades long record of franchise futility...... then the Tampa Bay Lightning went from expansion neophytes to Stanley Cup Champs during our time there..............then the White Sox busted up a forty year run without a pennant as soon as we moved here....... and now the Bears are going to reverse 20+ years of lacka, lacka Super Bowl success on Sunday ....... hey, you're not thinking what I'm thinking?

If the Bears win, I can move to San Francisco and reverse the Giants dismal record of World Series success and then, drunk and giddy with the power invested in me by the Gods of Sports, I can move back to Tampa and do the same thing for the Devil Rays????

Then I could die a happy man. Oh well, one can dream can't one??

Sorry Tony and Peyton, I see a Bears mauling here.