Jerry Angelo Out as Bears GM

Ding dong, the witch is dead!  Reports out of Halas Hall are that the Bears have fired GM Jerry Angelo.  Nothing official yet until we hear from Ted Phillips or George McCaskey, but it looks like Angelo and the lack of depth on this roster will be held accountable for the late season collapse and missing the playoffs for 4 out of the last 5 seasons.

Angelo’s tenure spanned 11 seasons and had more draft misses than hits.  He inherited Brian Urlacher and built a defense around him including Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman.  His most notable offensive draft pick is probably Devin Hester, more as a Special Teams threat than an offensive player.  Matt Forte is the only offensive Pro Bowler that Angelo drafted.

The biggest acquisition under Angelo was Jay Cutler, whom the Bears mortgaged their future for and have failed to put in a position to succeed with a lack of weapons and adequate protection.

The biggest question now is whether Tim Ruskell, whom Angelo hand picked to be his right hand man, will succeed Angelo as the GM or if the Bears will go on the outside.  The next question after that is if Lovie Smith survives a GM change like Dick Jauron did when Angelo was brought in.

Color me crazy, but I’m dreaming of a situation where Bill Cowher gets a phone call today to take control of football operations.  It’s been widely reported that Cowher wants more control than just being head coach, so maybe this is the right opportunity to pull him back into coaching.