Lucky Luciano

it's been a while and the rumors are a bit vague but i seem to remember that yes they did schedule a press conference before they finalized the deal. i think there was problems in regards to his assistant coaches. it seems to me that the bears wanted him to low-ball his assistants in salary and force a one year opt out deal dependent on how the bears management viewed the job they did. it was a complete mess what they wanted him to do and unheard of by any other franchise i can remember and before he would sign wanted to negotiate those terms. the bears figured it was such an honor for anyone wanting to come to chicago that he would accept anything thus the press conference. they were wrong.

upfront... i don't know much about the guy but he was working in SF during the harbaugh era and over the last 2 years in philly. seems like there is a power struggle going on in the eagles org so maybe worth a real look at this guy. i totally prefer going after polian who was set to go to buffalo until the mess there started but if we are determined to hire a newbie he seems to have the chops for it if we are going with an up-and-comer. http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/...-candidates-nfl

any thoughts on this guy? i guess he just became available. sounds interesting to me... http://www.csnchicago.com/bears/tom-gamble...t-search-new-gm

my point is this: this franchise is clearly unable to make good decisions on their own or EVEN from a list of candidates submitted by 'supposedly' competent people doing the looking as demonstrated in the hiring of jerry angelo, emery and the hiring of trestman (and in my opinion lovie smith). missing out on good candidates for the HC position at that time and the incredibly poor decision making by the GM's they hired that they signed off on is paramount. we missed out, just in the emery tenure, of hiring good coaches twice. once by forcing him to keep lovie for one more year to defray lovie's contract and next by the hiring of trestman. in my opinion i would make an experienced person an offer they couldn't refuse. polian i would offer big bucks to be our president of football operations at the very least for 1 year to get someone in there that has the potential to change how this franchise operates at it's base level. if he absolutely refuses a big payday then i go after holmgren in a big way. even if holmgren has not had great success he is better than any unknown at this time. we know what his strengths and weaknesses are and it's an educated assumption that HE has learned from his mistakes. we can NOT afford to roll the dice again on someone with no experience even IF this ballard turns out to be a finks of the future!! stability and steady direction are key right now to bring credibility to what we are trying to accomplish.

again, i am not saying he is or is not a good candidate. what i AM saying is his body of work is nearly exclusive to chicago's TWO failed systems. the similarities are very close to what we have hired before. in other words it is another inexperienced gamble our franchise seems to want to take for either lack of intelligence, even with accorsi's endorsement, or because of the cost to hire the best at what they do. in a nutshell, i would rather offer a LOT more money to bring in polian because he has DONE it before. the same goes with holmgren. either of those guys i give a shot before we move on an unknown with the possibility of gambling on yet another HC with no coaching experience in the NFL in their resume. we need that stability right now with someone who has experience. NOTE: jerry angelo was ALSO "Director of Player Personnel" in tampa for 3 years before coming to chicago. also was a player in semi pro or world league football, was a position coach for a number of years before going into scouting and then his job in tampa. a very similar resume for ballard.

with no GM in place: a good or bad choice, i don't know. here ya go... "Report: Bears Have No Interest In Rex Ryan Former Jets coach Rex Ryan is not among one of the coaches the Bears are interested in interviewing, per a report from ProFootballTalk.com." http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/01/03/rep...st-in-rex-ryan/ we would consider quinn a DC who has never been a HC and no offensive anything experience over ryan a defensive minded coach who has been a HC in the NFL. where is the logic in this? go figure.

ballard: i admit i know absolutely nothing about the candidates for GM other that the top choice from what little i read would be polian as president at least for a year to get us on the right track and GM if he wanted it. what does concern me with ballard is his tenure and ties with chicago in the past and that this somehow is one of the reasons they would choose him as our GM. in other words ballard was involved with this organization during angelo AND emery's time in chicago. in fact almost all of his experience, 12 years in chicago until 2013, was tutoring under these two men. he has only been in one other organization, the chiefs for 2 years, in this century. if that is not scary i don't know what is. his hire would smack to me of being the same decisions that have been made in the past 50-60 years by ownership. not saying i'm right but it DOES throw up serious red flags in this choice. toub: if we hired ballard and toub we will be nearly in the same boat when we hired emery and trestman. toub, though a defensive minded coach, not only has never been a HC but he has never even been a DC or OC in college OR the pro's. can it work? sure, but in my opinion if this happened it would be a VERY high risk option in a franchise that needs stability and direction from someone proven to be able to do the job.

i can't either. BUT if you click on the link and when it shows up before it disappears select and copy the headline. Paste that into a google search and it will come up. then when you click on it it works.

my thoughts on this... i am not sure if these other clubs would hire someone or not. other teams have but then maybe they wanted confirmation on choices they put together themselves. what i DO believe is that this franchise has struggled for 50 + years with poor management with the brief interlude when finks and vanessi (sp) were in chicago before the mccaskey's either fired them or let them move on. this makes chicago, contrary to belief, a not so choice place to work due to meddling by upper management/owners and the way this franchise conducts itself. this is not a dream location, as many believe, to work or build a winning tradition. by alienating the owners from the football operations would go far to make potential candidates believe there really might be a change in how this franchise does business.

i have to disagree. this shows me without any doubt that we need someone as a buffer between management and football operations. if we had someone like polian or whoever as president, the GM position would most likely already be filled and our new GM would be working with the new president on which coaches to hire. speed in these processes are paramount if you want to acquire the best talent you can find and these critical decisions should already have been made. that said... although i prefer they hired a president on that side of the organization if this decosta wanted to control the presidential function he sounds like the few out there you can trust to wear both hats correctly.

if this is the case is there any reason on earth ted phillips is still our president? per the CBS/Score website...

i agree. this hire would set in stone that the bear management is really serious about changing where this franchise is going. i'd offer him the moon

question for you or all... if marinelli is under contract, and i assume that he was, how did he resign his position in chicago and THEN get hired by the cowboys in 2013? how can you hire someone who has a written contract to work for someone else? i agree, it makes no sense at all. maybe that is why it makes sense for this franchise.

something doesn't sound right. 1. rod baby is doing the interviews for emery? just what is going on with emery? why is our DC doing HC interviews? if he wasn't under contract why was he interviewing anyone. if he was under contract why wasn't he our DC in the first place then? 2. according to the media, one reason ariens didn't come to chicago was because of marinelli being forced on him as DC. now we are led to believe that marinelli was in charge of interviewing ariens and it was his first choice? 3. then emery decides on another coach and we let marinelli walk if he was under contract and hire a proven loser? what the hell??? if this is the case teddy boy AND emery should have been beaten with a lead pipe wrapped in barb wire. =========== you know what? this is the EXACT reason we need a president of football operations. we are the insane leading the blind.

really? who gave dick jauron an extension? who allowed lovie smith to stay 3 years past when he should have been fired? who gave john shoop an extension as OC? who hired terry shea as OC? who hired ron turner after a failed system at UI as our OC? who hired mike martz as OC? who hired mike tice as OC? where are all of these offensive minded genius's NOW? who fired ron rivera and replace our DC with freaking BABICH? who demoted babich and allowed LOVIE to fail at doing what he is supposed to be stellar at?? free agents? qb's - kordel stewart, henry burris, quinn, chris chandler, chad hutchinson, griese, tod collins, jay cutler (if you hate him) for 2 first round draft picks (drafted qb's lefevour, crenzel, grossman, enderle, orton (good pick) who left us with 2 (and that's including paea if you consider him a good starter which i don't) drafted quality starting players under the age of 30 when he left on this roster? drafting well is THE most important job a GM can do!! here is jerry angelo's body of work. ============= EDITED=========== this was a list i compiled a few years ago and some of the figures were not updated. it now should be updated and correct. if anyone finds any faults please let me know and i will adjust them. Jerry Angelo Draft Picks 2002 - 2011 1st RD TOTAL PICKS - 8 6 offensive players 2 defensive players - 2006 traded out of 1st round and got d. manning 2 picks in 2003 0 picks in 2006, 2009, 2010 Quality Starters - Tommie Harris 2011 29 29 Gabe Carimi OT Wisconsin 2010 NO PICK Cutler Trade 2009 NO PICK Cutler Trade 2008 14 14 Chris Williams OT Vanderbilt 2007 31 31 Greg Olsen TE Miami (FL) 2006 NO PICK 2005 4 4 Cedric Benson RB Texas 2004 14 14 Tommie Harris DT Oklahoma 2003 14 14 Michael Haynes DE Penn State 2003 22 22 Rex Grossman QB Florida 2002 29 29 Marc Colombo OT Boston College 2nd RD TOTAL PICKS - 8 2 offensive players 6 defensive players 2 picks in 2006 Quality Starters - Charles Tillman 2011 21 53 Stephen Paea DT Oregon St. Pick From Colts via Skins 2010 NO PICK Traded to Bucs for Adam Gaines 2009 NO PICK Traded with Seahawks the #17 position in the 2nd round 2008 13 44 Matt Forte RB Tulane 2007 30 62 Dan Bazuin DE Central Michigan 2006 10 42 Danieal Manning S Abilene Christian 2006 25 57 Devin Hester CB Miami (FL) 2005 7 39 Mark Bradley WR Oklahoma 2004 15 47 Tank Johnson DT Washington 2003 3 35 Charles Tillman CB Louisiana-Lafayette 2002 31 63 NO PICK - Traded to Dallas 3rd RD TOTAL PICKS - 13 5 offensive players 8 defensive players 2 picks in 2008 and 2007 Quality Starters - Lance Briggs (Bernard Barrian) 2011 29 93 Chris Conte S California 2010 11 75 Major Wright S Florida 2009 4 65 Jarron Gilbert DE San Jose St. - From Seahawks for 2nd round trade out 2009 20 84 NO PICK Cutler Trade to Broncos 2009 35 99 Juaquin Iglesias WR Oklahoma - Compensatory Pick 2008 7 70 Earl Bennett WR Vanderbilt 2008 27 90 Marcus Harrison DT Arkansas 2007 30 93 Garrett Wolfe RB Northern Illinois 2007 31 94 Michael Okwo LB Stanford 2006 9 73 Dusty Dvoracek DT Oklahoma 2004 15 78 Bernard Berrian WR Fresno State 2003 4 68 Lance Briggs LB Arizona 2002 7 72 Roosevelt Williams CB Tuskegee - Trade From Dallas 2002 28 93 Terrence Metcalf OG Mississippi 4th RD TOTAL PICKS - 12 2 offensive players 10 defensive players 2 picks in 2004 and 2003 Quality Starters - Nathan Vasher, Alex Brown 2011 30 127 NO PICK TRADED TO WASHINGTON 2010 11 109 Corey Wootton DE Northwestern 2009 5 105 Henry Melton DE Texas - From Seahawks for 2nd round trade out 2009 19 119 D.J. Moore CB Vanderbilt 2008 21 120 Craig Steltz S LSU 2007 31 130 Josh Beekman OG Boston College 2006 23 120 Jamar Williams LB Arizona State 2005 5 106 Kyle Orton QB Purdue 2004 14 110 Nathan Vasher CB Texas 2004 16 112 Leon Joe LB Maryland 2003 3 100 Todd Johnson S Florida 2003 19 116 Ian Scott DT Florida 2002 6 104 Alex Brown DE Florida - From trade with Dallas 5th RD TOTAL PICKS - 17 7 offensive picks 10 defensive picks 2 picks in 2009, 2008, 2007, 2004 3 picks in 2003 Quality Starters - Mark Anderson 2011 29 160 Nathan Enderle QB Idaho 2010 10 141 Josh Moore CB Kansas St. 2009 4 140 Johnny Knox WR Ablilene Christian - From Seahawks for 2nd round trade out 2009 18 154 Marc Freeman LB Ohio State 2008 7 142 Zack Bowman CB Nebraska 2008 23 158 Kellen Davis TE Michigan State 2007 30 167 Kevin Payne S Louisiana-Monroe 2007 31 168 Corey Graham CB New Hampshire 2006 27 159 Mark Anderson DE Alabama 2005 4 140 Airese Currie WR Clemson 2004 15 147 Claude Harriott DE Pittsburgh 2004 16 148 Craig Krenzel QB Ohio State 2003 4 139 Bobby Wade WR Arizona 2003 8 143 Justin Gage WR Missouri 2003 36 171 Tron Lafavor DT Florida 2002 5 140 Bobby Gray S Louisiana Tech - From trade with Dallas 2002 30 165 Bryan Knight LB Pittsburgh 6th RD TOTAL PICKS - 11 7 offensive picks 4 defensive picks 2 picks in 2006 and 2003 3 picks in 2002 0 picks in 2007 and 2008 Quality Starters - none 2011 30 195 J. T. Thomas LB W. Virginia 2010 11 181 Dan LeFevour QB Central Michigan 2009 17 190 Al Afalava S Oregon St. 2008 NO PICK 2007 NO PICK 2006 26 195 J.D. Runnels FB Oklahoma 2006 31 200 Tyler Reed OG Penn State 2005 7 181 Chris Harris S Louisiana-Monroe 2003 18 191 Joe Odom LB Purdue 2003 33 206 Brock Forsey RB Boise State 2002 27 199 Adrian Peterson RB Georgia Southern - From trade with Miami 2002 31 203 Jamin Elliott WR Delaware 2002 38 210 Bryan Fletcher TE UCLA 7th RD TOTAL PICKS - 12 7 offensive picks 5 defensive picks 2 picks in 2007 5 picks in 2008 0 picks in 2011, 2006 and 2002 Quality Starters - none 2011 NO PICK 2010 11 218 J'marcus Webb OT West Texas A&M 2009 20 229 NO PICK - Traded to Bucs 2009 37 246 Lance Louis OG San Diego State - Compensatory Pick 2008 1 208 Ervin Baldwin DE Michigan State 2008 15 222 Chester Adams OG Georgia 2008 36 243 Joey LaRocque LB Oregon State 2008 40 247 Kirk Barton OT Ohio State 2008 41 248 Marcus Monk WR Arkansas 2007 11 221 Trumaine McBride CB Mississippi 2007 31 241 Aaron Brant OT Iowa State 2005 6 220 Rodriques Wilson LB South Carolina 2004 14 215 Alfonso Marshall CB Miami (FL) 2003 47 261 Bryan Anderson OG Pittsburgh 2002 NO PICK - Traded to Miami TOTAL PICKS OFFENSE - 36 TOTAL PICKS DEFENSE - 45 1st DAY PICKS Rds 1 - 3 Offense - 13 Defense - 16 2nd DAY PICKS Rd's 4 - 5 Offense - 9 Defense - 20 2nd DAY PICKS Rd's 6 - 7 Offense - 14 Defense - 9 5 QB's - rds 1, 4, 5 and 6 12 OL - 6 OT's - 3 rd 1, 3 rd 7; 6 OG - 1 rd 3, 1 rd 4, 1 rd 6, 3 rd 7 5 RB's - 1 rd 1, 1 rd 2, 1 rd 3, 2 rd 6 1 FB - rd 6 10 WR's - 1 rd 2, 3 rd 3, 4 rd 5, 1 rd 6, 1 rd 7 3 TE's - 1 rd 1, 1 rd 5, 1 rd 6 9 DE's - 1 rd 1, 1 rd 2, 1 rd 3, 3 rd 4, 2 rd 5, 1 rd 7 7 DT's - 1 rd 1, 2 rd 2, 2 rd 3, 1 rd 4, 1 rd 5 10 LB's - 2 rd 3, 2 rd 4, 2 rd 6, 2 rd 6, 2 rd 7 19 DB's - 9 S's - 1 rd 2, 2 rd 3. 2 rd 4, 2 rd 5, 2 rd 6 10 CB's - 2 rd 2, 1 rd 3, 2 rd 4, 3 rd 5, 2 rd 7

i understand what you are saying.- they have to make a decision on who to hire even if it is a team president and in a sense, i agree. on the surface it seems like a catch 22. but... in these respects time is extremely crucial. your franchise should be ready to make a move before the season ends and certainly no later than after the last game is played. that way you get a shot at the best people to bring into the fold. the bears in this instance should have hired a president of football operations weeks ago. at the very least this accosi should have had the list of candidates for this franchise to look over and make their choices on before the last game was over. we are wasting weeks of critical time by not having done this. this is why we need someone in this position. this franchise/corporation has been poorly run for decades. if the owners were actually successful in any form of football related business or even in the corporate business world i may have 'some' faith in their decisions at least initially. but they have not. in the last 50-60 years they have made catastrophic decisions on the football side of this business and especially over the last 35 in regards to the mccaskey family. by hiring a president of football operations your candidates certainly would be on the surface qualified football people. someone like polian, holmgren or even accosi. even if some of those candidates i mentioned didn't want the long term job make them an offer they can't refuse. give them a hefty salary for 1 year to get this ship on an even keel by forming a cognizant football model for the mccaskey family to run it by and hire a long term president in the future on this persons recommendations. as it is they are bailing a sinking ship with a teaspoon. HIRING A PRESIDENT: he the tip of the spear so to speak. this is the one man responsible for the long term success or failure of your football team on the field. he also is the simplistic person that the mccaskey's fire if it all fails and hire someone else more capable. he is the buffer between managment and operations. it is also his job to evaluate the league and the trends they are moving in to be successful. he macro manages your franchise. he also is the person who hires, evaluates and fires a GM and works with this GM to create an environment focused on winning superbowls. his duties SHOULD include a list of talent to run this team at the highest level from all over the league including the college ranks. this includes a list to replace a GM, scouts, head coach and all of the assistants BEFORE it is needed. in other words the minute he hires a GM (or coaches) he should be scouring the NFL for his/their replacement and have a list of the best candidates to update this position should the need arise through poor performance by his GM or others. the president is someone able to see when someone is failing at their job before it gets to the point that the team is not reaching it's objective or potential and plug in the best replacement immediately from this list if it is needed. this is what we now lack from the current management structure. by the time they see the problem the whole world has already figured it out months or years before and we have wasted time and money going nowhere. it took the current management 10 years to realize angelo was BAD. it took them 5 years to discover lovie smith was BAD after a superbowl appearance. it took a media firestorm to realize emery and trestman were not the men for the job in chicago. it SHOULD have taken them less than a season to discover mel tucker was BAD plus in my opinion they should have seriously questioned the hire in the first place. these are just some of the reasons we need this buffer between the football side and the business side of the franchise.

no it is not totally different. while i agree that accorsi 'sounds' like a very good person to sift through the talent, the bottom line is still the same as it was 3 years ago and 13 years ago. the person deciding to hire WHO accorsi puts on the list is the same one who hired angelo and emery. now you say that it's different because they will stay out of the football side of the equation involving coaches and player personnel and leave it to the GM. ok, that means they don't consider themselves capable of doing so don't you agree? YET... they consider themselves capable of choosing or HIRING the guy that makes these decisions???? that defies logic unless the list provided by accorsi consists of one person!! (if they had ANY input who to hire as a HC with emery, that means they PASSED on ariens to get trestman who must have been on a list of candidates. and why did ariens tell them to take a hike? because phillips, george or emery wanted to force marinelli on him. so it's obvious they couldn't choose the correct person to hire for the right reasons from a LIST of candidates. so, what makes you think choosing a GM from a list would be different?). my HOPE: if connorbear is correct (and i hope he is) that a president of football operations to oversee the entire franchise including GM may be made in the near future. if not then what really is the difference from the past? there are very, very important reasons why we need one for this franchise.

the PROBLEM with all of this is exactly the same as it was when we hired jerry angeol and phil emery. the president of this franchise knows NOTHING about football yet is working with failed owners to choose part 3 of the GM merry-go-round. so WHO is going to decide if the new GM is failing? hire another committee? it's the same B.S. until they prove that they can get this DONE right which is still going to be years down the road. i don't feel like it's much of anything different. hope i am wrong.

george inferring to choosing candidates with "We" meaning ted phillips. talking about hiring consultants to find the GM with no time frame involved. oh well, so it goes

if what we are seeing is truly in the works then we really may see a change in how this franchise operates and is perceived. the rumors are out there that from the top down they have used the phoenix effect. burn this franchise to the ground and let it rise from the ashes. if so, then there is finally real hope for this team and it's fans. it seems it is starting from the very top: virginia mccaskey (a very good read)... http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/12/29/ber...d-bears-action/ moving ted phillips out of football operations and really hire a team president in that respect. these things are way more important than just hiring and firing a new coach. it seems there is FINALLY a different mindset in the mess that has been this franchise for decades and someone to finally be accountable.

player salaries have absolutely no bearing on whether a franchise is cheap in today's NFL. take that away and then decide what the mccaskey family AND halas's have done that would disprove that. they got a freebee stadium since their inception. the cost of their facilities has been below average or at VERY best average. they have cut out the best middlemen (GM's) for decades by running the franchise themselves with the one exception of finks. the people/coaches they hire outside of the family are generally at below average salary costs and end up to be generally inept. just what have they done to say they are not cheap?

emery: to me... it's WHO he hired. even with the trestman gamble, there is absolutely NO way he can justify tucker. as it turns out that's TWO franchise changing hires that went south and one that couldn't have been a surprise at all. if he stays what credibility does he have hiring the next ones? as far as phillips? he is 0 for 2 in hiring a GM to make those decisions on who to hire, extend and who to draft. once through a freakin firm who took 2 months to figure out hiring angelo in which time all the viable candidates were LONG gone. the 2nd was entirely his choice in emery. CHOP HIM!!

UNLESS... it is a move for garza to retire a bear this offseason. if NOT... it's just the same old stupidity for another decade. if emery is coming back it adds to the list of just WHY he should have been fired in the first place and why this organization is geared to fail. why in the HELL would you make personnel moves BEFORE you hire a new coach??? it certainly isn't like 31 other teams are going to knock down garza's door to sign him in the day after our last game. welcome to the mccaskey merry-go-round of a poorly run franchise. disgusting!!

the rest i can give a maybe or probably but this? to me it's exactly the opposite. he has poor instincts and is a crazy hitter. this guy has the injuries to prove it.

all at a time that we need high draft picks in the worst way. LOL!! if they do that they are beyond stupid. mikey needs to write another book... HOW TO FAIL AND STILL MAKE MILLIONS