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Promoting Tice only makes sense for Bears

Football is often a cruel and heartless game.

So while unfortunate for offensive line coach Mike Tice, the Bears had no choice but to prevent him from leaving for a better job in Tennessee.

The Titans wanted to make Tice their offensive coordinator, but he's too valuable here.

However, there's no reason the Bears couldn't make him their offensive coordinator, since Mike Martz fits like an oblong peg in a square hole.

Admittedly, the thought of giving Jay Cutler a fourth offensive coordinator in four years is crazy, but is that any worse than having him live another year with Martz?

Martz doesn't fit Cutler, the receiving corps or the offensive line. Cutler doesn't fit Martz, and all they tried to do last year was force each other into calls the other didn't embrace.

Meanwhile, Cutler's no better than he was a year ago and the Bears' offense was 30th in the NFL, so it's not as though — if they sent Martz packing — they'd be giving up on something that was great.

Don't be misled by the NFC title game appearance, because the offense was mostly a mess.

They still have issues at receiver and on the line, and only Tice getting Lovie Smith to change Martz during the bye week saved the season.

It's nearly impossible to imagine Smith admitting a mistake as big as Martz and letting him go, but it's not really all that absurd an idea.

After denying him the chance to move up, the Bears ought to do right by Tice with a raise and a contract extension.

A much bigger title, like offensive coordinator, would also be smart and aggressive.

Unfortunately, that sounds very little like the Bears.

Still the king

It's fun to talk about Derrick Rose as an MVP candidate, and right now he's at least in the top three.

But unless NBA voters punish LeBron James for his weird TV program last summer, this decision is a slam-dunk.

James is easily the MVP at this point in the season, and unless there's some dramatic change, the vote shouldn't be close.

The point

It was a thin branch ventured onto before the season when it said here that Derrick Rose would be known as the best point guard in the NBA by season's end.

There will still be some arguments about it in April, but good luck making a case against Rose being tops at his position.

Seam stress

Many e-mailers are wondering if it's safe to make the assumption that this is finally the end of the Aramis Ramirez era on the North Side, and it's a fair question.

Ramirez ($14.6 million in 2011) will be 33 in June and has averaged only 386 at-bats the last two seasons, but in his last two contract years he put up huge numbers.

So perhaps it's never safe to assume the Cubs won't pick up his $16 million option for 2012, even though that's been the hope here for some time.

If he plays well and the Cubs are bad, maybe someone would take Ramirez midway through the season, even knowing a trade vests his option for 2012.

Yeah, you're right. It's a reach.

The good guys

Wolves boss Don Levin will present a $164,000 donation Saturday at the Allstate Arena to the Chicago Department of Animal Care and Control, which assists more than 24,000 sheltered animals a year.

The team also will host another Adopt-A-Dog night Saturday. The Wolves have helped find homes for nearly 900 dogs in 10 years.

For more info, visit chicagowolves.com.

Hit and miss

Orlando Sentinel's Mike Bianchi, on National Signing Day: “The two Super Bowl quarterbacks — Ben Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers — had only one scholarship offer between them. Roethlisberger accepted that offer from Miami of Ohio while Rodgers went to junior college. Moral of the story is the recruiting process is like a prom date: Doesn't matter what happens at the beginning of the evening; what matters is at the end of the night.”

Just goofy

Omaha World-Herald's Brad Dickson: “Aaron Rodgers visited Disney World. Someone asked if he wanted to see Grumpy, and Rodgers said, ‘Jay Cutler is here?'”

And finally …

Miami Herald's Greg Cote: “Knicks fans booed Justin Bieber the other night. I think that's the first nice thing I've ever said about Knicks fans.”

brozner@dailyherald.com

ŸListen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM.