Bears dismiss GM Jerry Angelo; Lovie returning
Feeling the need to close the talent gap between themselves and their NFC North rivals in Green Bay and Detroit, Bears team president and CEO Ted Phillips on Tuesday fired general manager Jerry Angelo.
“It's my decision,” Phillips said. “It has the support of ownership.”
Chairman of the board George McCaskey and his mother, team matriarch Virginia McCaskey, were apprised of Phillips' decision and concurred.
Phillips reached the decision Monday and informed Angelo on Tuesday morning.
“He took it as the professional that he is,” Phillips said. “A little surprised, but he understood. He took it as well as anyone could. I have great respect for him.”
So, after 11 years as the Bears' personnel boss and draft-day decision-maker, Angelo is out and Phillips will seek his successor. Phillips proposes to handle the search himself.
“My feeling is over the last 10 or 11 years, my experience, my contacts in the league with other teams (and) talking to some folks internally, I think we'll be able to handle that search and come up with the right candidate ourselves.”
That can't make Bears fans, even those who wanted Angelo out, feel very good, considering that Phillips always has been considered more a bean counter than a football guy.
The Bears' fall from grace this year was a hard one, and Angelo will be the scapegoat, along with offensive coordinator Mike Martz, who resigned on the same day. After a 7-3 start, the Bears lost five straight and fell out of the playoff race, missing the postseason for the fourth time in five years.
Since Angelo and head coach Lovie Smith were considered equal partners in the on-the-field product, some wondered why Angelo took the fall and not Smith, who will be retained.
“We felt that ultimately Lovie is the right head coach for this team,” Phillips said. “We like his staff that's in place, and we want to close that talent gap with our division rivals, and that's why the decision was made.”
Smith was hired by Angelo to succeed Dick Jauron after the 2003 season.
“I will always be thankful to Jerry for hiring me,” Smith said in a statement. “We had an excellent working relationship, and he helped us win a lot of football games. I have tremendous respect for him and am sorry to see him go.
“But I also will embrace the opportunity that comes with change. We have an excellent core in place. I look forward to working with a new general manager to bring a championship to Chicago.”
Phillips also expressed thanks to Angelo for helping build a team that won four division titles and played in two NFC title games and one Super Bowl.
But he added that it wasn't enough.
“He's put his life's blood into the Bears,” Phillips said. “(He's a) tireless worker, and I'm going to miss him. But at the same time we need more.”
Angelo's spotty track record on high draft picks did not work in his favor.
It started with his initial first-round pick, offensive tackle Marc Colombo, who spent four injury-riddled years with the Bears. After multiple surgeries on a knee that originally was injured in his rookie season, Colombo was cut but went on to start 88 games for the Dallas Cowboys.
The next year Angelo had two first-round picks. He whiffed on defensive lineman Michael Haynes, but quarterback Rex Grossman had some success in Chicago, helping the Bears get to Super Bowl XLI. He finished the 2011 season as the Washington Redskins' starter.
Angelo hit on 2004 first-rounder Tommie Harris, who made three straight Pro Bowls before injuries derailed his career.
In '05, even though the Bears had veteran running back Thomas Jones, Angelo used his first-rounder on running back Cedric Benson, who was cut after three injury-marred seasons and two off-the-field arrests. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the Cincinnati Bengals this season for the third straight year.
“Obviously we want to do better in the early parts of the draft,” Phillips said.
Of the 82 players Angelo drafted since 2002, just 22 remain on the roster and 12 could be considered Bears starters at some point this season.
Only two of Angelo's nine first-round picks are on the roster, offensive linemen Chris Williams (2008) and Gabe Carimi (2010). Both ended the season on I.R.
There were rumors last month that Angelo would retire at the end of this season, but those were never confirmed, and Angelo downplayed the idea.
“I've been in the league a long time,” he said. “I enjoy what I do very much, and I work with a great organization, great people. I still want to make a run at this.
“That would be a good question (coming off a Super Bowl). I'd like for that situation to happen. My goal right now is to win a championship.”
Two years ago Angelo presided over a front-office shake-up that cost pro personnel director Bobby DePaul and college scouting director Greg Gabriel their jobs.
Angelo then brought in Tim Ruskell from the Seattle Seahawks as the Bears' director of personnel. Ruskell will head up the Bears' scouting operations until a new GM is hired.
While he had high-profile misses, Angelo also brought the Bears some mid- and late-round steals, such as third-rounder Lance Briggs (2003), fifth-rounder Johnny Knox (2009) and seventh-round offensive tackles Lance Louis (2009) and J'Marcus Webb (2010).
Charles Tillman, Devin Hester and Matt Forte all came in Round 2.
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