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As soon as I saw they hired Tice I figured this would be the case. If it is true, I'm really happy about this. Tice is a very good coach and earned an opportunity to be an OC and having Bates in who knows Jay and has an idea of how to coach Jay up to his strenghts and I think we have a pretty good set of minds there. I am curious to see how it will work having two guys involved but as long as it is clear that Tice calls the shots and as long as Cutler is comfortable, I'm okay. I think it is huge because I see Tice having the courage to at times tell Cutler no, which is important. But it will be nice to have Cutler being able to audible at the line of scrimmage and I fully expect we'll see a lot more designed roll-outs. I think (although I can't confirm) that Tice was pretty involved in the change in play-calling during Cutlers very successful 5 week stretch this year.

Usually the coach hires his assistants. There is input from the GM but the coach almost always has the final say in hiring his assistants.

Tice is a perfectly fine hire and makes a ton of sense. Bears will be able to play a little bit more to Cutler's strengths and he'll have more input yet they wont' be entirely overhauling the offense. I expect Bates to be brought in as the Passing Coordintor. I could be wrong. I'm also very curious to see who Tice brings in as the Oline coach.

I don't disagree. However, I'd argue that almost any successful pass defense truly requires a strong front four. You won't see many pass defenses which are successful without getting to the QB. The Bears seem to have an improving Front 4 with Melton looking like a nice looking tackle to go with Peppers and Paea has some potential. I still think I target WR and DE in FA (Mario Williams and another wideout). Getting both is a pipe dream but I'll go for it. In round 1 I'm grabbing whatever LT falls to me. If the right one doesn't fall, I think I trade down and grab a guard. The good news for the Bears is about 4 of the top tackle candidates in the draft that were underclassmen went pro. This includes the Stanford guys, plus Riley Reif (Iowa), and USC's LT. I figure with all of these guys coming out, when you add in upperclassmen, the Bears might be in a spot where they can pick up a LT.

That is the point of the cover 2. You don't need to invest in high draft picks to get a good cover 2 as the system is different and allows you to get away with lesser talent at certain spots. It is pretty ingenius cause you can find good cover 2 corners later in the draft.

Ditka was a lousy coach who got very little out of one of the most talented teams in NFL history (1 superbowl was not enough with that kind of talent). I love him as a fan of the Bears but I want nothing to do with him being the GM. I wouldn't mind his involvement in some way, shape or form in the organization, but not as a personell guy. I most certainly don't want us to trade our whole draft for Ricky and a round of golf on draft day.

That is true. He missed bits and pieces of the season with rib injuries and some other ailments.

He still has to agree to interview.

Hasselbach was his QB last year and Lynch isn't a terrible player.

He has the exact opposite. He has had tons of coaches during his tenure.

I'll point out a couple of the negatives and make an argument hte other way: 1. Won't step on an opponents throat when leading a game - Has a tremendous record while leading at the half (42-8); League average (since 2002) was 71%. Lovie is at 84% at. Has a tremendous record when leading after the 3rd as well (far better than the NFL average). 2. Marinelli was regarded as the best Dline coach in the league. I don't care if he was a cronie or not, the Bears were lucky to have him and I've never heard of any player over his entire career saying anything bad about the dude. Mike Tice is also regarded as one of, if not the very best position coach as well. Martz was regarded as one of the best offensive minds ever. He failed but he had a track record and Martz didn't let his friendship get in the way of giving him the boot (and Martz was given the boot, they are just being nice saying he resigned). 3. Press conferences - Who cares. Belliceck doesn't say a thing at his press conferences; Whats it matter. Press conferences don't win games. 4. Believing not to lose - Has a pretty solid winning percentage in his history as coach. Plus this is all just speculation.

Bowe is the best candidate. VJax is the next best wideout, imo, but also the biggest head case of the bunch. Desean would have been perfect for Martz but doesn't fit what the Bears need. I think the Bears might say screw it and go with Jackson, but I'd probably put them at going hard for Stevie if Bowe is franchised but for all I know Stevie (Bills) will be franchised. Colston scares me because I have no idea how much of a product he is of Brees. Bowe has put up numbers with all kinds of mediocre QB's. My only concern with him is he gets hurt or he gets lazy. Physically the dude is a total beast.

He would be the best hire of the bunch. Followed closely by the Green Bay guy, but none of the 1st time GM candidates have the pedigree and reputation as DeCosta.

Just cause it is the same systems as Shanny's doesn't necessarily mean it would work the same way or be as effective. Remember, Bates would be the one calling plays. I'm not saying I'm for/or against the hire, just remember it wouldn't be quite the same as when Jay was in Denver. I am intrigued about the idea of Bates but I'd also need to know more about why he was fired in Seattle and why he isn't coaching right now. Terry Shea was supposed to know Martz offense and we know that never worked out.

Atlanta has done some really good things. Not sure how involved he was in those things but at first glance, I'm intrigued.

This is what I don't like. If Lovie has just one more year, you should have fired him. They better have kept him because they believe he is one of the better coaches in the league and assume he'll figure things out and get extended. If not, we are going to be firing our coach a year from now and on the verge of bringing in yet another OC (unless we give this OC a big time contract; problem is, if you do that, what coach is going to come in knowing they are tied to an existing OC?).

Doubly agree.

I do think if you brought in a GM like the Ravens guy (who is the top candidate in the league) and the Bears loved him and he was in with the exception that he needed to have a shot to bring in his coach, than I'd probably do it. However, when I look down the list of NFL head coaches, I only see 5 coaches better than Lovie in this league: 1. Bellicheck 2. Sean Payton 3. McCarthy 4. Tomlin 5. Reid I think anyone else and you can make an argument Lovie is better. The next list, which includes Lovie, also includes Mike Smith, the Harbaugh Brothers, Shanny (I might include him in the top group), and Rex Ryan (who I happen to hate). You could also argue for Kubiak (who I'm a huge fan of). Which means, if you agree with my list, at worse, Lovie is the 11th or 12th best coach in the league. I happen to think he rates on par with everyone else on the list of this group of candidates and most definitely ahead of Rex. I realize Bears fans have problem with the guy but his teams play hard for him week in and week out. They respect him and he by and large gets the most out of his players. While you may think this are not a big deal, the reality in the NFL is that the vast majority of coaches don't get this out of there players. Some might be a little shrewder in the in-game decisions but Lovie has improved on the in-game adjustments to the point that he's at least average. He excels at getting his guys ready to play though and that is why I think at worse he is a top 8 coach in this league and I don't understand why we are ready to kick him to the curb. I'm not going to fire him because people don't like the way he uses "coach speak" to the press, thats for sure. I do know that he had this team playing at a high-level prior to injuries and never once used injuries as an excuse.

Cause Lovie is a good coach.

Interesting. I never had a Problem with jerry but I'd be all for polian. I wonder what this means for lovie?

I'm going to assume they will franchise them. I don't have a clue why they wouldn't? I guess the only reason they wouldn't is if someone else that was of significant value to them was a free agent.

Mario Williams would be my #1 target though. I think it is so important to have a big pass rush in the current NFL. Factor in that 2 of our teams in the division throw the ball a lot and have pretty prolific offenses and it is even more important (GB & Detroit). And you'd have at least 1-2 years with Peppers still playing at a high level (add in Melton & Paea in the middle and Idonjie spelling the ends and I'd be pretty happy).

Touche. Calvin Johnson and Fitz seem okay to me. In terms of guys that are FA's, I don't really have an answer. I also don't mind Stevie Johnson, however, Stevie, has most definitely said some dumb crap.

I'm actually not convinced that dumping him is the best idea. I think Martz did some very good things this year and didn't have any major issues with him outside of the early playcalling and the Raiders game. And I think if you watch any offense, you'd know that teams are going to have weeks where the playcalling is less than par (so it happens to everyone). Bottom line: With Cutler this offense looked like it was heading to the next level. Add another quality olineman (specifically a LT), plus a front-line wideout and another year in Martz system, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this offense progress to the next level. Cutler was starting to look quite comfortable. Now if really, it was Tice calling more of the plays and we didn't know it, than that is a whole nother story. Basically put, if there was more backdrama than I need to know, than I understand why they'd fire Martz but Martz is a good offensive mind and at a minimum a good OC and I hate the idea of starting over and throwing Cutler in yet another new system.

No. I'd rather just stick with Williams. And to be honest, at the right price, I have zero problem bringing Williams back. He just better not prevent the Bears from spending big money on a #1 wideout.