On Friday, CSN Chicago’s John Mullin reported that Lovie Smith will be back for the 2010 season:

That has been my take of the situation for some weeks before this. Now two highly placed individuals within the organization have separately indicated that there will not be a change at the top of the on-field org chart, due in some measure to the looming prospect of a strike/lockout. The same assurances were not there with respect to changes on the staffs for offense and defense.

Don’t look for any announcement one way or the other, by the way. Organizations typically do not issue statements that nothing is happening. But this is the first time that I’ve been able to find something close to “statement” on Smith’s future, which is now all but certain to be coaching the 2010 Chicago Bears.

Yesterday, before the Bears-Ravens game, GM Jerry Angelo said this:

“At the end of the year we’ll talk. I know we’re not in the playoffs and obviously didn’t meet expectations. We did have some problems and I want to make sure I focus on that first and foremost.

“I don’t look at money in those times. It’s not about money. It’s about doing what we need to do to be a good football team.”

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“I don’t know where the report came from, again, speculation,” Angelo said. “At the end of the year we sit down and talk. I’m not going to talk about anything prematurely…. At the end of the year we’ll sit down and talk about everything. The protocol won’t change.”

So yeah: we have one reporter saying Smith will be back, but the same can’t be said for the rest of the coaching staff, while the team’s GM is saying no decision has been made yet, and they’ll sit down and have a nice chat once this mess of a season is over.

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Something I didn’t realize until yesterday: the Bears are playing a Sunday night game against the Eagles this weekend. As we all know, in the Bears’ three night games so far this season, Jay Cutler has throw 11 interceptions. This is bad. Very bad.

And it’s been an oft-talked-about topic; sure the Bears have plenty of holes, but what’s more likely to get picked apart on a national, and even local, level: five picks from a supposed franchise quarterback who came to the Bears under unusual circumstances and has a history of being a polarizing figure, or the offensive line not getting it done? It’s almost always the former.

Perhaps because of the scrutiny, and perhaps because there’s just not much more to say at this point, the Bears decided not to make Lovie Smith, Jerry Angelo or Jay Cutler available for a segment that will run on NBC’s “Football Night in America” about Cutler’s struggles.

“We try to do whatever we can for anyone that’s coming in,” Smith said. ”We’ve played quite a few Sunday night games. There’s not a whole lot more to talk about. We’re making our players available right up until game time. But as far as participating an awful lot right now, it’s kind of time for us to play football. We try to do as many interviews as we can during game week, but once you get a little bit closer to it, you’re kind of reeling things in a little bit.

”There’s nothing else to say. We’re disappointed with where we are at this point in our season. We’re anxious to play this game this week. We need to get to the game.”

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Plaxico Burress. Just the mere mention of his name inspires fear in, um, his leg. Because, well, you know. And if he actually managed to behave, he might one day inspire fear in opposing defensive backs again.

For what team? I have no clue. And neither does Jerry Angelo. But the Bears aren’t totally ruled out! At least according to Angelo’s statements at the Bears Expo, where he bantered back and forth with Bears fans, who were presumably all wearing giant, fake mustaches.

“As I said, we’ll look at every option,” Angelo said. “[His] situation is different because there are circumstances. We’ll monitor it.”

[...]“He could help any team,” Angelo said. “His play, his production speaks for itself. Everybody would love to have him on their team, including the New York Giants.

“But obviously, they are things that have to happen now for him to play in the league, get on with his life. There are a lot of hurdles to cross before you can really seriously sit here and use that as a viable option.”

Angelo also denied that the Bears were one of two teams that Drew Rosenhaus had spoken with, stated that the Bears were “very comfortable” with the receivers they have and failed to comment on the possibility of Jay Cutler reaching out to Burress.

Now, one thing that strikes me as potentially awkward is Cutler heading into this year with just Devin Hester (all the speed in the world, still needs to prove the hands, etc) as his No. 1 receiver. Hester could be a monster. He could also make Jay pout again. And as the folks in Denver will tell you, that’s not a good thing.

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A few weeks back, our own Jon Bois threw out Amani Toomer as a possible option for the Bears at wide receiver. He’s a free agent, and while not a star, he’d be a good fit for Jay Cutler and this new Bears offensive attack. They’re a solid receiver away from teams actually having to worry about their offense. Fancy that.

Well, get his: The NFL Network reported late last week that the Bears were inquiring about Toomer. But Jerry Angelo says that’s not true, and that the Bears are still working on the whole wide receiver thing:

“We have not talked about [Toomer],” Angelo said Saturday before the Bears Care Gala at Soldier Field.

“A veteran receiver is something we could do. We’ve looked at just about everybody. But right now we’re in a holding pattern. If we go to camp and go into the season with the hand we dealt ourselves, we’re very comfortable with that as well.”

“Holding pattern” likely means a few things.

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The 2009 NFL Draft was never going to be a suspenseful one for the Chicago Bears. An ambitious trade offer aside, Chicago was stuck without a first-round pick, a deficit produced by the Jay Cutler-Kyle Orton-tons of picks trade from earlier this offseason. Which is fine, really. I’d rather have Cutler than whatever the Bears would have chosen in the first round, and I’d rather have Jerry Angelo try to trade for an established wideout than take someone in the second.

The Bears didn’t make the Boldin trade happen. Thus, they were actually forced to select some players on Sunday. My knowledge of the NFL Draft is directly inverse to Mel Kiper’s, but anyway, some thoughts. This should be fun!

The good news from the Bears draft is that they used the picks they didn’t unload to get Boldin to actually draft a pack of wide receivers. Juaquin Iglesias is the best among them; he is apparently both big and sure-handed, so that’s good, because the Bears. No. 1 receiver is neither of those things. If Iglesias fails to produce, the Bears rolled the dice on Abilene Christian’s Johnny Knox in the fifth round and Pittsburgh widout Derek Kinder in the seventh. Will either be good? Probably not, but at least there’s a chance.

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You know what would be lame? If Jerry Angelo decided to say he was “disappointed” or he’d be “talking with” Jay Cutler about recent photos snapped of him out at a bar drinking in Chicago. For these reasons: It’s the offseason, he’s of age, he’s not out drinking and driving, or getting into fights, or sexually assaulting women due to his drunkenness, he appeared to just be having a good time. A man is allowed to do that, even if he’s the new franchise quarterback of the Chicago Bears.

So, it comes with great relief that Jerry Angelo was not lame today. He was not one of those regular GMs, he was a cool GM.

From the Sun-Times:

“When we did our research, we know he goes out, we know he does those things,” Angelo said. “We talked to our medical people, we talked to the Denver medical people. It comes with the territory. We’re comfortable with it. I really can’t answer it beyond that.

“I’m not going to micro-manage a person. If we have to do that, that’s not a good sign. Some lessons, they have to see and learn for themselves. I don’t think that’s a big thing at this point. It’s what he does on Sunday is how we’re going to evaluate him. That’s the bottom line. He’s got a good foundation coming in here. He’s a young quarterback, he’s played in this league, he’s shown what he can do. He gets it. That’s the biggest concern. He gets it.”

Let this be a lesson to youth football players far and wide: It’s totally cool to go out and drink, as long as your mom drops you off on time for your game the next day and you play pretty good.

That’s what we’re supposed to take from this, right?

My affinity for the Bears need to sign veteran free agents is well known. But unlike Jeff Garcia, Chicago’s favorite football team actually took a look recently at two guys that do make a lot of sense: Ken Lucas and Orlando Pace. (Oh, and I’m kidding … I still think Garcia would work fine.)

Pace, obviously, is a former franchise tackle for the Rams cut for salary cap reasons. Lucas was an All-Pro cornerback made famous by a Steve Smith jab to the face and released by the Panthers for the same reason.

But both signings make sense from the perspective of the Bears, money notwithstanding. The logic of inking Lucas has already been covered by MDS at FanHouse, but he’s exactly right: Lucas is an upgrade for the Bears at corner, and he’s still young enough where a shorter deal makes absolute sense.

As for Pace, the Bears could certainly pass … if they think that offensive tackle is a need that they can definitely fill in the upcoming NFL Draft. And by “fill” I mean “find a starter.” Which may be a problem, because it’s looking increasingly likely that Jason Smith, Michael Oher, Eugene Monroe and Andre Smith will not fall to the Bears at 18, though if Smith keeps doing what he does best (initiating a chubby freefall), it’s entirely possible.

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