Ok, all those hopes and dreams we had about getting rid of some of the coaching staff and making some real changes at some spots, especially QB have just taken their first shot.
Lovie Smith and Ron Turner have both officially endorsed Kyle Orton as the QB for next year.
Smith:
''All players will have competition,'' coach Lovie Smith said. ''Everybody's in the same group. But Kyle is our quarterback. He has done a lot of good things for us this year, but we all start from scratch and go from there.''
Turner:
''Yeah, no question about it,'' Turner said. ''He played really well. It took him a while to get back into his groove after his [sprained] ankle. I still don't think he's 100 percent, but in this league that is usually the case. Early [in the season] he was playing great, and the last couple of weeks, he was playing really well.''
So by the fact that they made these statements tells me we will also be keeping Ron Turner as well. So this leaves us with Bob Babich, but I get the impression he'll get another shot on grounds of him being new to the spot. But if the Bears were interested in making a change there are some options.
Rod Marenelli was canned in Detroit - I think Marenelli would be huge plus for any staff that picks him up regardless of whether he is their DC or any lower position. Even though Detroit finished 0-16 those players never quit on him. He had their respect and they played. They gave a lot of teams including us, Green Bay, Minnesota and Indianapolis a run for out money for a good portion of our games. Players respect him and he respects them back. I think he is a solid character guy, who just found his way into one of the worst run teams in professional sports. He deserves another shot and I believe he will eventually get it.
Cleveland has also let go Romeo Crennel - Crennel also found himself in a bad situation. They got burned by the whole Derek Anderson deal. Then both Anderson and Quinn go down and they have to finish with their 3rd string QB. They have some major league divas over there that can't be good for the team. Braylon Edwards went from a world beater to a guy who cannot even hang onto the ball.
Eric Mangini has been fired as the NY Jets head coach - I know the least about Mangini. He was the defensive backs coach in New England for 5 years and then their defensive coordinator for 1 before taking the Jets job. As we are seeing guys who leave NE and Belichick aren't having a whole lot of success.
Obviously if my vote counted, we would make a strong move for Marenelli, but we will end up sticking with Babich.