The article should be posted for reference b/c it may be deleted from the website you found it on's archives. Hass is a perfect example of what a white WR no matter how well he did in college is up against.
No Jerry-rigging
GM vows to solidify Bears' weak foundation, writes David Haugh
David Haugh
January 4, 2008
Of all the answers Jerry Angelo provided Thursday in his long-awaited post-mortem of the Bears' disappointing season, the one he couldn't come up with was the most telling.
Asked to identify the players on offense around whom the Bears can build, Angelo singled out nobody.
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The Bears will spend the off-season in search of that missing identity.
"Who are the building blocks?" Angelo said. "I can't sit here and say I feel 100 percent about anybody."
While it was interesting to note Angelo didn't mention offensive linemen Olin Kreutz or John Tait, nobody on the Bears' offense had any right to feel offended, with the possible exception of tight ends Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen. The emasculation of the team's supposed power running game was that complete.
In between the verbal gobbledy******* that often muddies Angelo's message, the Bears general manager delivered a more frank and accurate appraisal of what the Bears are -- and aren't -- than his head coach three days earlier.
"What's the optimum word? Honesty," Angelo said. "As long as we're honest about our evaluation, which we will be, then we will get this thing righted."
The same guy who in a radio interview two weeks ago branded the offense "inept" maintained that critical theme by promising "more competition on the offensive side of the ball." In other words, neither Cedric Benson nor Rex Grossman, whom Angelo said he hopes to re-sign, will be assured anything but a battle at training camp.
"In all likelihood, without sitting and talking to the coaches, off the top of my head, it has to be competition," Angelo said about the quarterback depth chart if Grossman is re-signed.
He didn't rule out exploring the trade market for a veteran such as Cleveland quarterback Derek Anderson or -- dare to dream -- Donovan McNabb. But given the late-season progress of Kyle Orton and Angelo's stated interest in Grossman returning, those inquiries might fall under the category of Angelo doing his "due diligence."
"We have to get the position stabilized," Angelo said. "We would like to have Rex back, in the mix. We'll talk through that. Rex showed good play, particularly after he was coming back off his little sabbatical."
When it came to Benson, Angelo seemed to lower the bar considerably for a player picked fourth overall in the 2005 draft. Running backs drafted that high should qualify as franchise runners by the end of their third seasons, injury woes or not. Benson clearly doesn't, but at least Angelo sees that.
"My definition of a feature back is sometime during the course of a game you have to make two or three runs of more than 20 yards," he said.
Benson had three runs longer than 20 yards in 196 carries. All three came in Benson's final two games before a leg injury against Denver that might have cost him the last five games of the season but could have saved his roster spot in 2008 because of the late flash.
"Franchise is a strong word, [but] I'd like to think he could still be a featured back," Angelo said. "But there will be strong competition at that position. If something were to arise in the marketplace and/or the draft that we feel can complement the backs or give us the type of competition we feel we need, then we're going to look at that."
The Bears also will take at least a cursory glance at the three players entering free agency likely to be the most sought after at their respective positions: linebacker Lance Briggs, wide receiver Bernard Berrian and special-teams ace Brendon Ayanbadejo. But even if the Bears have the necessary funds with the salary cap increasing to $116 million, Angelo sounded realistic about the market steering those players to pastures full of more green.
"If we don't [re-sign them], then we have other players who can take their place," Angelo said.
Wisely, Angelo left open the possibility of sticking the franchise tag on Berrian if the Bears conclude they might be too thin at the position to let him flee.
He reaffirmed belief in his core philosophy of a strong defense and solid running game, freshly armed with a statistic out of the Dallas Morning News that showed teams with a 100-yard runner winning 105 of 142 games this season.
"We have to run the football," Angelo said.
For the Bears' failure to stop the run, Angelo appropriately placed most blame on the secondary for a bad defense prone to giving up such big plays.
Addressing Smith's desire to bring back every assistant from a 7-9 staff, Angelo defended his coach's choice to feel comfortable with the people he works with daily. Note that Angelo didn't say he necessarily endorsed the return of the entire staff.
Angelo grew testier when pressed about the inexperience of a staff whose experience he had just hailed. Three of the four defensive assistant coaches were doing their jobs at the NFL level for the first time this year.
"That's a matter of opinion," Angelo said of the need for a more experienced staff.
It was Angelo's opinion that rookie guard Josh Beekman and reserve wide receiver Mike Hass could have gotten onto the field after the Bears were eliminated from the playoffs. But he understood why the coaches kept both players inactive.
There was only one thing Angelo really never understood about this season, and still doesn't: Why it went south so quickly.
"We competed but just weren't able to find that little something at the end to finish the game," Angelo said. "What is that? If I knew that answer, I would be in Canton, but unfortunately I don't really see that in my future either."
Now that's the kind of honesty the Bears need this off-season.
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dhaugh@tribune.com
Copyright © 2008, The Chicago Tribune
Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins 
