Posted by: Luis Cruz - Posted on: 01-18-2010

Season is over, what’s next for Da Bears?

As Bears fan throughout Chicago comes to grips with the disappointing season of 2009 all that is for everyone to speculate what the Chicago Bears can do to make sure 2009 does not repeat.

We’ll start with coaching. Since the Bears ownership announced both Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith will both be returning we can only speculate about who their choice for offensive and defensive coordinators will be.

It has been widely publicized that the Bears top choice for their offensive coordinator was Jeremy Bates, USC offensive coordinator and former Cutler coach. Those dreams quickly evaporated in light of the Seattle Seahawks hiring USC head coach Pete Carroll and Bates decision to follow Carroll to Seattle. The Bears have also been eyeing Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements who has a reputation for molding quarterbacks into probowlers (see Aaron Rogers). Other candidates include Cincinnati Bengals quarterback coach Ken Zempese. If all fails most people have Mike Martz as the back up plan. One coach that is off that list is former Minnesota head coach Mike Tice who signed with the Bears as the offensive line coach. The Bears now have two former head coaches heading each line. Lets hope at the very least those two improve dramatically as both performed poorly this year.

So what about those guys we call football players? Well these are pretty much no brainers. The Bears are in dire need of help on the offensive line, as our run game and pass protection was almost non existent throughout most of the year. Although some critics believe we need more depth at running back, the Bears can do fine with Matt Forte, Kahliil Bell and a healthy Kevin Jones. Most importantly the Bears need to hand Cutler a true number one receive that will both produce numbers that a number one should but make the trio of young receives (Knox, Aromashodu, Bennet and Hester) better. So what numbers one’s are available? The pickings are slim with most scenarios having the Bears trade for a number one. The Cardinals or the Broncos both might be willing to trade Anquan Boldin or Brandon Marshall. Both are unhappy with their current situations but the Bears have limited commodities to offer. The great play of Aromashodu might convince the Bears that he “might” be their number one, but we all know how that story usually turns out. Long story short, get a number one for Cutler and we will be a better offense.

On to the defense. Bears are in search of a Defensive coordinator and their top choice just bolted for New York to join Tom Coughlin. With Lovie possibly being given his last opportunity, job security might be an issue with any defensive coordinator. So who else is out there? Former Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards and Seahawks assistant defensive backs coach Gus Bradley has also been mentioned.

Back to what counts on the field, the players. The return of Urlacher should be a significant boost but that alone cannot catapult the Bears back to a dominant defense. We are in need of a true free safety that can cover the entire field AND knows his assignment. Steltz has been serviceable but is entirely too slow for that position. This help will most likely come via the draft and that’s an entirely other article. We’ll be doing a Bears draft preview in the coming weeks. So what else can give us a boost on the defense? Well the Bears definitely need a consistent pass rush. That story gets complicated with the impending free agency of Adewale Ogunleye and Mark Anderson. Chances are the Bears might keep Anderson, move Idonije to end to give Anderson and Brown some relief and look at later rounds of the draft for additional help. This should do well as Defenses will now have to deal with both Briggs and Uralacher which should help our line improve on their numbers.


Many Bears players see 2010 as a fluke year and fully expect that they will dramatically improve. As a Bears fan, I’m crossing my fingers but that’s about it.

Peter Garza
LW Sports Contributor