Chicago Bears tight end Desmond Clark was kind enough to spend a few minutes with Bear Goggles On for this exclusive interview.

I’m hesitant before interviews because athlete’s public image sometimes doesn’t match up to who they really are. This isn’t one of those cases at all; he’s down-to-Earth and just a really nice guy.

Here are the highlights:

Talking about fired TE Coach Rob Boras:

I’ve spoken to him a couple times since he left. He’s taken it hard. He’s from Illinois, so that was his dream job.

Talking about Lovie’s personality as coach:

Don’t give me that crap about his personality, because he was a good coach with that personality in ’05 and ’06, so you can’t say that he’s not a good coach now. He’s the same man with the same personality. If you want to talk about X’s and O’s, OK, then I’ll listen. But if you’re going to talk about personality, I’m going to tune you out, because it makes no sense. With that same personality, he took us to a Super Bowl. It has no weight when people bring up that argument.

When talking about Jay Cutler and his leadership:

Once Jay is able to lead us to that playoff victory and to the Super Bowl, that’ll set the record straight. Like I always say, when you’re not winning, everyone wants to pick everything apart. “Lovie’s not a good coach because he doesn’t get emotional. Jay’s a whiner because he’s emotional.” You know what I’m saying? Jay’s emotional and that’s not good. Lovie’s not emotional and that’s not good. It doesn’t make sense….how do you want it?

Check out the full transcript after the jump:   (more…)

Even though we’re still a couple of hours away from the official press conference, early reports out of Halas Hall indicate that heads are rolling after the Bears‘ disappointing 7-9 season.

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner has been fired, along with offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton and tight end coach Rob Boras.

The very latest news as of this writing contradicts earlier reports that Rod Marinelli will be handed the keys to the defense.   The Bears will supposedly relieve Lovie of his defensive coordinator responsibilities and look outside the organization for a new DC.  It will be interesting to see how far outside they go.

Some rumbles around former Bears’ assistant Perry Fewell, recently fired as interim Head Coach in Buffalo, makes me think that even though there will be a new person holding the clipboard, don’t expect any philosophical changes or a departure from the Cover-2.

Lots more coverage after this afternoon’s presser.

BEAR DOWN!!!