Beneath all the aspects of Sunday’s game between the Bears and Detroit Lions, the matchups and the individual players is a deeper confrontation, a pocket Armageddon of football philosophies.
The rhetoric will say this is Bears vs. Lions, but the reality says it is Dick Jauron vs. Jerry Angelo: The Final Chapter. Sunday, in some small way, should help settle something– Who was right?
Jauron’s Detroit defense vs. Angelo’s franchise quarterback and the back (Thomas Jones) Angelo paid millions to because he thought Anthony Thomas, a Jauron draft pick, wasn’t good enough.
Jauron is now the Lions’ defensive coordinator, in command of precisely the same model defense that propelled him to a 13-3 season in 2001.
More Top Picks Best Cat Trees For Multiple Cats
But Angelo has systematically dismantled that style of defense, culminating with the recent release of defensive lineman Bryan Robinson.
Jauron was fired by Angelo this year after a contentious several years marked by hard feelings that began in Angelo’s first year as general manager. That was 2001, Jauron’s best year at 13-3.
Bears President Ted Phillips used Jauron’s firing to announce contract extensions for Angelo and himself. Jauron won’t ever use a word like “payback,” but it always was a mistake with Jauron to equate showing no emotion with having no emotion.
Angelo and Jauron someday will move on to other venues. But Sunday, the Bears and Lions will play out a drama within a drama. Jerry Angelo vs. Dick Jauron. One more time.