Your wish is granted.

Bears fans can thank Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels for where the Bears are today.  Go ahead and thank him personally.  He’s not busy right now.  Why?  Because the Denver Broncos fired the embattled head coach less than two years after his arrival in the mile high city.

Somewhere, I’m sure Jay Cutler is smiling.  They say that living well is the best revenge.  After finally settling down in Mike Martz’s offensive system, the Bears sit atop the NFC North with a 9-3 record largely thanks to Cutler’s impressive play of late while the Broncos have bumbled their way to a 3-9 record that led to McDaniels getting shown the door.

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“Mistake-free” that McD.  Sure, Jay Cutler may have not been the right puzzle piece to the jigsaw here in Denver, and I trust McD’s evaluation of that scenario. However, the Broncos need to right the ship this offseason by bringing in someone with a powerful arm. It was apparent that last season the offensive coaching staff didn’t trust Kyle Orton’s arm enough to let him throw down field. Defenses stuffed the run, let Orton throw short, and quickly forced the Broncos into punting the ball. Orton wasn’t allowed to pass deep often enough to keep opposing defenses honest.

Josh McDaniels wanted a game manager, and that’s what he got in Orton. Orton kept the turnovers to a minimal level at the beginning of the season, but once teams figured out that his arm only goes for so many yards, they gave him those short passes. More than half of Orton’s passes went for 10 yards or less. When it was time for him to go long, he was out of practice, and I think he got the jitters. We need to complement guys like Brandon Marshall (if he’s back), Eddie Royal (nearly non-existent last year), and Jabar Gaffney.

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Could Nolan suit up in the Orange and Blue?

Another possibility has emerged for the Bears in the Great Coordinator Search 2010.  Former Broncos defensive coordinator Mike Nolan is out on the street after “mutually agreeing to part ways” with Broncos boy genius head coach Josh McDaniels.  Nolan took the Broncos defense from 29th in 2008 to 7th in total yardage in 2009.

Nolan most recently ran a 3-4 scheme in Denver, but he’s also worked with 4-3 defense as well.  Normally, such a wide departure from the Bears’ Cover-2 wouldn’t be considered, but since the Bears lost out on top candidate Perry Fewell, Lovie and the Bears may have to be a little more flexible in their search.

Nolan is already drawing quite a bit of interest.  The Miami Herald reports that Nolan is expected to interview for the Dolphins‘ DC position no later than Wednesday.

I really doubt Nolan becomes a serious candidate, as he would represent a drastic departure from Lovie’s Cover-2, but at this point in the process the Bears need to keep their options open.

Jay Cutler Superstar asks for predictions for JC’s 2009 stat line.  A certain blogger who shall remain nameless pegged him for 30 TD’s.  What was in that Cutler Kool Aide?  Maybe I should take JC with my #3 fantasy pick?

And speaking of Jay, he only had nice things to say about former coach Josh McDaniels, while he expects a rough ride from Broncos fans in his return to Denver.  Can we call him “former coach” when he never really coached Jay?   How about the guy who effectively ran him out of Denver?

Dusty Dvoracek is getting his knee scoped on Friday to verify the seriousness of his injury.   What do you think they’ll find in there?  I suspect it will be his ticket to the injured reserve list.  As any Cubs fan will tell you, In Dusty, we no trusty…”

The Bears defense is hoping to get a Manning and Bowman back for Sunday while former Bear Mike Brown visited with Waddle and Silvey.

In the “I need to go to Law School to follow the Bears” department, someone is trying to take DT Anthony Adams to the cleaners, while the Bears are suing to recoup $400k for getting the old Screw Job on a suite deal.

Lots more on Jay Cutler’s return to Denver including a different angle on the Cutler-Orton matchup coming up later this week.

BEAR DOWN!!!

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Check out the Kyle Orton comments at about the 3:23 mark of the video.  Interesting to see how he’s viewed by his new team.

Speaking of Orton, he has already arrived in Denver, raring to go. (more…)

Bears fans, let’s play a little game called Would You Rather?  A lot has been made recently about the alleged availability of disgruntled Denver QB Jay Cutler.  I have been among many that have called for the Bears and Jerry Angelo to put together a “whatever it takes” package to go get a 26-year old Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback entering the prime of his career. Sure, he’s acting like a diva with the way new Head Coach Josh McDaniels handled the Matt Cassel situation, but I seem to recall a certain “Punky QB” that roamed the sidelines in the 80′s that had a bit of an attitude too. (more…)

See Jerry, I’ve done all of the hard work already.  All you have to do is pick up the phone or send off an e-mail.  Heck, let me know and I’ll hammer this thing out myself.  I even know a good realtor to help Jay get some new digs to replace his old pad in Denver, which is listed here in case you’re looking to re-locate.   Don’t know if they have much of that log cabin vibe going up in Lake Forest, but I’m sure we could find something nice.  (more…)

The Kansas City Chiefs acquired hot QB prospect Matt Cassel and veteran linebacker Mike Vrabel from the New England Patriots for a high 2nd round pick.  Um, Jerry, we have the #18 pick in the first round and chances are there will not be a QB of Cassel’s caliber available at that spot in the draft.

A side story coming out of the Cassel trade is that the Denver Broncos tried to trade for Cassel and would have subsequently moved Pro Bowler Jay Cutler to make room for a QB better suited to new Bronco head coach Josh McDaniels‘ system.  Rumor has it that Cutler was close to being moved to the Tampa Bay Bucs for the #19 pick.  Um, Jerry, we have the #18 pick and I am quite certain that there will not be a quarterback with a Pro Bowl on his resume available in the first round.  And to be quite honest, even if there were, you couldn’t find him.

Among the other top free agents to get away was former Bengal WR TJ Houshmandzadeh, who signed with Seattle.  Here’s Jerry Angelo on Housh from Vaughn McClure’s Huddle Up blog on chicagotribune.com:

Houshmandzadeh is a fine receiver.  Would we have entertained him? Yes, but we wanted to see what his marketplace was. In this case, we felt like [what he received from the Seahawks] was an exorbitant amount of money. Remember, he was a No. 2 in Cincinnati. That’s not to say that what Seattle did wasn’t right for them; their situation is different in my mind than ours. They had an inordinate amount of injuries with receivers and they felt like they needed to get somebody that was established and healthy.

A lot of teams would have liked to have had Houshmandzadeh. But he’s going to be 32 in ’09 and the price that you’re paying for that receiver we felt was very high. You have to look at economics when you look at players. Who doesn’t want Houshmandzadeh? But you have to look at the economics: What are the implications to the cap going forward and what does that prevent us from doing in other areas within our team and/or in free agency?

Hey Jerry, how about the Bears set the market for once?  You talk about how Seattle needing to get someone established and healthy.  Um Jerry, which receiver on the Bears is “established,” Rashied Davis?  Up until last season, Devin Hester needed someone to tell him where to go.

I hope my rant didn’t wake you from your nap.  Would someone please wake up Jerry before the draft?

BOOM!!!