By Jim Coffman
Paging Jerry Angelo . . . Paging Jerry Angelo . . . Please pick up a white courtesy telephone, give us a call and tell us why on God’s green (soon) earth you aren’t signing anyone? Please?
I’m not one of those guys who torches you every time a big-name free agent signs with someone else. Does anyone who really follows pro football think that T.O. would be the answer to anything that ails the Bears? Come on. And we realize that while no NFL team has figured out a way to win big through free agency, several have determined how to lose (the Redskins spring to mind, as do the Cowboys of the last few years and even the Raiders, though they barely, barely matter). And that way is to overpay past-their-prime stiffs who don’t fit into your system.
But Jerry, you need to sign at least a warm body or two who have, I don’t know, maybe started in the NFL at some point in their careers. You have some big stinkin’ holes in your team and you won’t be able to fill them all with draft picks.
Let’s start with the primary hole you yourself identified at the start of the off-season. We didn’t think quarterback was anywhere near the biggest need for this team but that was your primary point of emphasis when you listed areas of concern at that point. So where is the new quarterback to provide Kyle Orton with needed competition (except he doesn’t need it – but we’re looking at this from Jerry’s point of view right now)? Surely, surely, you aren’t going to pretend that Brett Basanez (or was it Zac Kustok?) is the answer? In a little noted free-agent signing (because Basanez’s pro career has been of no note so far), the Bears brought the former Northwestern signal-caller back to Chicago recently. And I have confirmed it was Basanez and not fellow former Wildcat signal-caller Kustok. Basanez has been sitting around doing nothing in Charlotte for the Panthers the past three years. He is obviously not the answer at quarterback.
But enough about a position that is actually, ably filled by a returning Bear who won’t cost the Bears much at all. OK, one more thing. There was a school of thought that responded to Angelo’s thoughts on the quarterback position by pointing out that Orton only had one year left on his contract and that the general manager was trying to put pressure on him to sign a cheap extension with the Bears before the season starts. But he won’t do that if you don’t sign a legitimate veteran back-up, will he Jerry?
This time that is definitely all about a position that the Bears don’t have to actually worry about next season (it becomes increasingly clear they’ll have to worry about it in 2010, of course, but not in 2009). The Bears have real holes at safety and wide receiver (Angelo actually said that rookie washout Earl Bennett, who couldn’t get on the field last year despite the Bears starting one of the weakest wide receiver corps in the NFL, still has potential at that position – but that’s not true, Jerry! Is the problem here that you can’t handle the truth?!). The Monsters of the Skidway need a pass rushing defensive end and an offensive tackle. They need depth at linebacker.
Throw Bear fans a bone, Jerry. Even a chicken (receiver) bone would be a start.
Bull Grit
Luol Deng looked around last week and (after a couple tries) finally found a doctor who took a bone scan of his leg that showed a tiny stress fracture (others had called it a bone bruise). Supposedly he will meet with that Florida-based doctor early this week to determine if he should play through the injury or call it quits on the season.
As if he needs to meet with a doctor to decide. Deng decided last week that the injury hurt enough that he could sit out the rest of the season guilt-free. He’ll meet with this doctor, the guy will tell him there’s a tiny chance that playing on the injury could make it worse and Deng will bow out of yet another sizable swath of a season. The Bulls gave Deng $70-million-plus last off-season despite the fact that he showed himself to be physically and mentally frail during the 2007-08 campaign. They didn’t offer Ben Gordon that much and they didn’t sign the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent guard. Did you notice that yet again the biggest factor in a Bulls win, this time over Milwaukee on Friday, was Gordon’s scoring (a game-high 34 points)? And Gordon had seven assists by the way. So now either the Bulls will lose Gordon for nothing in the off-season or they’ll (probably) trade Kirk Hinrich and a draft pick or two to create room to re-sign him. Nice.
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Jim Coffman brings you the city’s best weekend sports roundup every Monday. Comments are welcome.
Posted on March 9, 2009