I asked him about the team getting back to a championship level and he told me that I was jumping the gun. Which makes me think that this team is a long way away from being back on top. Angelo talked about how there was enough here to be a solid team. Which led to my favorite part of the press conference...

...Zach asked him, "Who are the building blocks of your offense?" Jerry had a hard time answering the question. That’s when he called the Offensive Line, "formidable". This after saying a couple of minutes before that the line needed work. He was quite uncomfortable on what was a simple, yet brilliant, question.

-Cedric Benson will have competition next year. Jerry made that pretty clear. What was more interesting is that he admitted the competition isn’t already in the building and the team will be looking for someone in the draft or free agency. Benson intimated that it didn’t matter who was brought in, calling it "a waste of time."

-The Bears really want Rex Grossman back, but Jerry guaranteed if Grossman was to come back, he would have to compete for the starters job. Grossman has said he wants to be in a place where he can compete...with Ron Turner coming back, I’d imagine Rex will be back in Bears uniform.

-On other Free Agents (Lance Briggs, Bernard Berrian), Jerry didn’t seem as optimistic. I laughed a little inside when Jerry tried to convince us that Mark Bradley or someone in the draft would be able to replace Bernard Berrian if he goes to another team. He didn’t rule out using the Franchise Tag on Berrian, but that would mean he would pay him 8 Million dollars for next season. The Bears aren’t that close that they can afford that. The team is salary cap-friendly. They have a lot to spend, but don’t expect #55 and/or #80 back. Although, Berrian actually wants to return, especially if Rex is calling the signals.

I implore you to go to the Bears website: chicagobears.com and listen to the entire 30 minutes. Make up your own mind about what you hear. You’ll get a great sense of where this franchise is headed.

Thank you so much for reading this blog all season long. It was a joy to bring you my thoughts in a different way. I’m looking forward to all the news of the off-season.

I’m starting to wonder if the working relationship between Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo is as strong as it was this time last year.

Angelo has to be questioning Lovie’s judgement on player personnel and coaching. It’s my belief that Lovie was king of the castle last year. Because of the team’s success he was given more power. And it would seem that the move to cut ties with Ron Rivera have Lovie’s finger prints all over it. Do I have to even mention the Adam Archuleta move? And rumor has it that Dan Bauzin and his bum knee was a Lovie call.

As the team goes forward, will Lovie still have the same juice? I hope not. I think as a tactician, Lovie is decent. When it comes to weekly preparation, I think he’s very good. His evaluation skills I think are lacking. It’s weird because in some cases, he does pull the trigger quickly (Terry Shea, Ron Rivera, Don Johnson, Mike Green, Chris Harris). In other cases he seems stubborn (Adam Archuleta, Fred Miller, Bob Babich and "...Rex is our Quarterback").

To get the team back on track, Jerry Angelo has to take back control. That means immediately. Hopefully today, we will hear Jerry’s plan for the off-season.

Keep an eye on Greg Gabriel’s situation. He’s the Director of College Scouting. Will he be allowed to help make the picks and will he be around after the draft is over?

Now the heavy lifting begins for the Bears. On Monday, Lovie Smith, gave a small glimpse of what the off-season plan was. My hope is that, Smith was giving "coach speak" when he outlined his vision for the Bears future.

Lovie said that he wants to see his entire coaching staff come back. Because in his words, "...This is the staff, the helped us get to a Superbowl." Here’ the problem, that’s not quite accurate. Ron Rivera, Wade Wilson and Don Johnson were on the staff in 06. Not in 07. Bob Babich was on the staff, but he was the Linebackers coach, not the Defensive Coordinator. I think Babich and Ron Turner are safe, but I hope that Lovie takes a long look at the position coaches.

Lovie likes to employ teachers as assistants. There isn’t a ton of NFL player experience in his staff. That being said...when you look at the assistants, do you feel like any of them had an impact on their players, other than Dave Toub? Toub has made the Bears Special Teams the most consistent of the 3 phases of the team. He’s been great, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other teams started sniffing around to see if he wants a Head Coaching job.

Offensively: Tim Spencer, is the Running Backs Coach. He got a lot out of Thomas Jones, but nothing out of Cedric Benson or Garrett Wolfe. Now, Wolfe is a rookie and showed some glimpses at the end of the season, but Benson looks lazy and lost.

Darryl Drake is the Wide Receivers Coach. Other than Bernard Berrian, can you name a player that has gotten better? Mark Bradley looks like he has 1 foot out the door. Moose is Moose. Rashied Davis I thought regressed this year and had a limited impact on the offense. The most damning thing for Drake is that Devin Hester didn’t look like he knew what he was doing sometimes. This was after an off-season where he spent all of his time working on the offensive side of the ball.

Harry Heistand is the Offensive Line Coach. This group is a veteran bunch and doesn’t need a lot of coaching. Health & age were their problems, but the reserves seemed unready. They missed on Terrance Metcalf and didn’t develop Josh Beekman. I will give him credit for helping convert John St. Clair to Guard late in the season. He played well in late duty.

Pep Hamilton is the Quarterbacks Coach. He was very active in Bourbonnais running the QB’s through drills, but when the season started, Rex Grossman looked like he had forgotten everything that he did well in ‘06. He was benched in week 3. Brian Griese probably has forgotten more about the position than Pep knows, so it’s hard for me to believe that his words carried any weight with #14. Kyle Orton looked prepared and showed improvement in his 3 starts.

Defensively: Steve Wilks is the Defensive Backs Coach. Injuries played a big role in their problems. Wilks deserves a lot of credit for identifying what Trumaine McBride could do early in training camp. On the flip side, Danieal Manning still has issues with play diagnosis and positioning. They didn’t help him by moving him to corner for 2 weeks out of necessity. The Safety position was a disaster all year long.

Brick Haley is the Defensive Line Coach. Mark Anderson went backwards this year. He struggled defending the run all season. If he wasn’t coming from the backside it was hard for him to make the play. The fact that Alex Brown wasn’t reinstated as the starter was ridiculous! A position coach has to fight for the best player. I won’t blame Brick for Darwin Walker being soft. While I think that you have to be careful with injured players, I’ll call Walker out for not playing hurt. There’s no way they can bring him back for the 5.2 Million dollar roster bonus. Israel Idonije looks like the best dollar-for-dollar value on the team. He can play inside and outside and that does take detailed coaching.

Hardy Nickerson is the Linebackers Coach. Other than lending his name, I’m not quite sure what he did to make these guys better. Brian Urlacher struggles were mostly injury, but he still had a hard time getting off of blocks. Lance Briggs played at a Pro-Bowl level for the 1^st 8 weeks, then kinda dipped.

I think there is room to make moves at a few of these coaching positions. We’ll see if Lovie Smith really meant what he was saying or if he just wanted to complete a full review of his staff before making a judgement.

The Bears locker room is about a 7 minute walk down a cavernous tunnel under Soldier Field. You can feel the cold temps from the field as you walk by and you can hear the fans clap, stomp, cheer and moan. It was a lonely walk Sunday.

Kyle Orton and Lovie Smith speak in the media room. It usually takes them about 10 minutes after the game to come in. The QB comes in first. That cooling off period is enough time to get the other players up and out. Rex Grossman and Lance Briggs bounced almost immediately. They went out the back way. Both of their futures are uncertain, but if I was a betting man, I’d say the odds are better that Rex returns.

A lot of reporters were worried about what happened in the game. Yeah, it’s cool that Devin Hester got his 6^th TD return of the season (NFL Record). Or that Adrian Peterson threw a TD pass. Or how well Lance Briggs played today. When you’re talking about a team that was in the Superbowl just 10 months ago...does it really matter how they finished a 7-9 season? Remember, the key isn’t the Bears competing for the NFC North or just getting to the playoffs. They should be held to a Superbowl standard.

I was more interested in what happens next. Bernard Berrian was emphatic saying that he would like to return to the Bears. He said that he "...hates to move!" With Patrick Crayton signing his deal, Berrian is at the top of the list for free agent Receivers.

Lovie Smith was defiant about the fact that neither one of the Coordinators will be let go. It makes me wonder though...if Mike Martz is let go by Detroit, how can the Bears not explore reuniting the teacher (Martz) with his pupil (Smith)?

After a game, the locker room is usually buzzing. It’s hard to maneuver because guys are cutting off their tape, getting dressed and packing their equipment. On Sunday, it was quiet enough to actually hear yourself think. Most of the locker stalls were empty. Alex Brown sat down and fielded all questions (as per usual). So did the aforementioned Coordinators, Ron Turner & Bob Babich. Babich walking out in his signature leather jacket. Mark Anderson was in such a hurry that he left his I-Phone. Luckily, for him Tommie Harris (who’s locker is next to #97) realized it and put it in his bag to return on Monday.

Tommie’s funny. He usually is the last Bear to talk. He takes a lot of time to get ready, but I also think Tommie enjoys the attention and when you’re last, the media’s attention isn’t divided. He’s pretty smart when it comes to reconciling the business aspect of the game, but he talked Sunday about how at its essence, football is a game and should be fun. At least for those 3 hours when the lights are on. I spent an extra 10 minutes in the locker room just hanging out with Tommie until we were the only people left...interesting guy with a lot of ideas on how the team can be better next year.

On my way out, I ran into Zach Zaidman. Before either one of us spoke, we just started laughing. He said, "Can you believe it’s over?" It’s like it’s been 1 long season that started in July of ‘06.

I let the finality of the season sink in over the long walk back to elevator. Everything gets wrapped up, there are tons of forklifts. All the divets on the field get replaced, but even with all that going on, it was eerily quiet. After the Bears beat the Saints in the NFC Title game, it was almost like the stadium had a heartbeat. That was missing Sunday.