Fire Dick Jauron.
In nearly two seasons this guy has provided little evidence he ever will do much more than write a coaching memoir entitled, “Without a Clue.” Foreword by defensive coordinator Greg “Blah-Blah” Blache. Backward by offensive coordinator John “Run And” Shoop.
Jauron should be fired just for making this statement about Cade McNown the day after San Francisco 17, Bears couldn’t-cross-the-50: “He’s going to be a very good player in the NFL.”
Yet President Ted Phillips also should be fired for making this statement about Jauron after Jauron made his about McNown: “I think Dick has all the right intangibles to lead this team.”
Come to think of it, Ed and Virginia McCaskey should remove themselves from the board of directors for elevating Phillips to replace their son Michael, who hired fellow Yalie Jauron. Phillips also should be fired for extending the contract of Mark Hatley, another Michael hire who should have been fired long ago for wasting make-or-break draft picks on McNown (instead of Daunte Culpepper) and Curtis Enis (instead of Randy Moss or Fred Taylor).
The point here is that bottoming out in pro sports nearly always starts at the top. Until the McCaskeys sell the Bears, this ship of fools will continue to hit icebergs tipped by Dick Jaurons.
Is this what George Halas had in mind? How much more shame can daughter Virginia’s family bring on itself, its city and America’s most passionate fans before it at least hires a proven general manager and gets out of his way?
One of the NFL’s sharpest talent evaluators, John Butler, just left Buffalo because owner Ralph Wilson wouldn’t pay the going rate for GMs, around $1.5 million. Butler is to Hatley what Sheriff Taylor was to Gomer. But would the McCaskeys hire him? No way. Too expensive. Too threatening. The only GM the Bears have is George McCaskey’s initials.
Even more demoralizing is how many big-name GMs and coaches drop off-the-record hints that they would love to work in Chicago for the Bears. “Sleeping giant,” you always hear.
But the McCaskeys, who cling to control, always hire down. Lightweights hire lighterweights until the Chicago Bears wind up with 31-year-old Shoop, a former grad assistant at Princeton and Vanderbilt and computer nerd for Carolina, as offensive coordinator.
Michael McCaskey hired the coaching equivalent of himself, an emotionless, intellectually superior Jauron who would be much more effective teaching at Yale than leading a pro football team. At best Jauron is a management puppet who wears an impassive mask and white-lies to the media and fans about his real feelings. At worst he’s exactly what he appears, chillingly naive, unable to admit to himself and his public he’s lost in the NFL jungle, changing directions by the day, walking and talking in circles.
While Old Man Halas’ final flourish was hiring Mike Ditka, grandson Michael’s last act as president was hiring the unDitka, a coach utterly uninspiring and unChicago. Jauron’s players haven’t turned on him only because he doesn’t work them too hard and he defends their most pathetic performances to the media. The way Jauron talks about players, they might as well be Gummy Bears.
If Jauron hadn’t arrived with the smarter-than-us mystique of an Ivy Leaguer and former NFL safety, he already would have been laughed out of town. His in-game decisions often have been inexplicable. His only success has come when coach-on-the-field quarterbacks Jim Miller and Shane Matthews have provided the motivation and moxie.
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Jauron’s handling of McNown has, predictably, become his undoing. Jauron has changed his QB policy so often fellow Yalie George W. Bush nearly chose him for his Cabinet. Jauron earnestly called his first season, 1999, “the championship season,” then came up with a goofy plan to play McNown a series a game. This season he picked McNown over Miller before camp because McNown “gives us the best chance to win.”
The Bears are 1-8 this season with McNown starting. Last season they were 1-4 when he played most of the game.
Yet before last Sunday’s game, Jauron told John Madden that the Bears “need to find out about McNown.” Now for the season’s finale, Jauron is going back to Matthews, who probably won’t be here next season.
We’ve found out all we need to know about McNown and Jauron. Both are busts. But considering who chose them, that should be no surprise.