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Lovie Smith announced today that defensive line coach Rod Marinelli is being promoted to the role of defensive coordinator from his defensive line coach role.
As was rumored very early on in the process the Bears decided to again promote from within much like they did after Ron Rivera was let go. Marinelli has never before been a defensive coordinator in the NFL having made the jump from D-Line coach in Tampa to head coach in Detroit before being fired after a 0-16.
This move leaves the Bears open to a huge amount of criticism and questioning on the decision to simply promote from within. There is really no point to this and it shows just how out of touch Lovie Smith is with the idea of needing "a fresh set of eyes" to look over the defensive personnel.
Marinelli isn't a change at all and the Bears would have been better served looking out of the current staff. Rumors of Colts secondary coach Alan Williams being a candidate for the position seemed to be the best option the Bears had going forward.
Williams at the very least deserved an interview even though he may not have the years of NFL coaching experience Marinelli has.
All the criticism this organization faced over the offensive coordinator search that was put to rest after the hiring of Mike Martz, now that criticism is fair to be leveled at the organization for a lack of vision, a lack of intelligent thinking or perhaps a lack of candidates who even bother to run a one gap/Cover-2 scheme in the NFL anymore.
When Perry Fewell took the job in New York it apparently completely ended any idea of going in a slightly different direction than was talked about by Angleo and Smith at the end of the year press conference.
To say this points to a level of incompetence by this coaching staff may be the understatement of the year and shows no signs of creativity or even willingness to harshly evaluate the defense in the same manner the offense was combed through.
A fresh set of eyes was needed at the very least to help in evaluating the current personnel on this team, the same personnel that has essentially sucked since the end of the 2006 Super Bowl run.
Three seasons removed from that magical run and the only thing that has changed on defense has been this team has gotten worse. The personnel on this defense has gotten worse, with no one willing to admit catastrophic failure in drafting and evaluating the talent of a once proud unit.
I honestly can't feel a higher level of disgust and disdain for this front office right now in the way they have handled this defense the last few years. None of that feeling truly matters though because all this hire does is simply delay the inevitable firing of Lovie Smith for one more painful year.
The true waste will likely be on the offensive side of the ball where offensive genius Mike Martz will likely have one year to work with Jay Cutler only to see that one year of work go completely to waste as a new coaching staff is brought in to implement a new system all together.
Marinelli it has been said doesn't even really want to be the defensive coordinator in the first place having rejected the overtures from the Seattle Seahawks to be their D-coordinator only to accept the D-Line coach with the Bears.
Marinelli also officially relinquishes his title of defensive line coach and hands that title over to Eric Washington. Marinelli however will retain a lot of the authoritiy that goes with controlling and making decisions in regards to defensive line coaching and personnel.
The Bears also completed filling the empty slots on the coaching staff by hiring Shane Day as quarter backs coach. Day was a offensive quality control coach hired by Mike Martz during his tenure in San Francisco.
While Day and Washington will hold the titles of quarterback coach and defensive line coach respectively most of the coaching and development of both the quarterbacks and the defensive linemen will fall in line with Martz's and Marinelli's vision for this groups.
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