Tim Ruskell was a Jerry Angelo hire. Not just a hire, but he was brought in ("allegedly")* to take over when Angelo stepped down. The two share a general managing philosophy, and if Angelo was fired because the Bears wanted the franchise to go in a different direction, they why the hell would they hire the guy, that the guy they fired, hired to take over for him when he retired? For all I know Ruskell is a football savant that had a clash of styles with then Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren. But I don't care. If the Bears hire him, it'll just be another in a long line of idiotic moves. If Ruskell was the choice, the Bears went about this entire thing all wrong.
If Ruskell ends up with the job, the Bears never should have fired Jerry Angelo. They should have went to him and worked out a mutual separation. Ted Phillips should have sat down with Angelo, informed him he thought the team needed a change, and asked him to resign. They could have had their Jerry Angelo appreciation press conference, introduced Ruskell, and went from there. Sure there would have been some backlash from the media and the fans with the change for the sake of change move, but it would have blown over rather quickly with the Mike Martz decision and subsequent offensive coordinator search.There's always the chance that JA would have declined the offer to retire, but with him so close to the end anyway, he could have been coerced to go. If not, then they're sitting where they are anyway and no one would any wiser. Wait a minute, maybe that is what happened...
I don't really have a favorite among the candidates that are up for the job, I just know that Ruskell should not be considered at this time.
* It was pointed out to me by someone whose football acumen I respect greatly that the 'Ruskell was hired to replace Angelo' was pure speculation by the fans and media as nothing concrete was ever issued from the Bears regarding this matter. I'm tackling this subject from a perception is reality direction.