Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo was fired on Tuesday after the Bears fell out of playoff contention and finished their season with an 8-8 record.

Speaking of the decision Chicago Bears president Ted Phillips called it a “a difficult day” before naming director of player personnel Tim Ruskell as the interim leader for the team.

In a statement Phillips revealed:

“It was almost 11 years ago that I hired Jerry Angelo as our general manager. I was proud of that decision then, and I think Jerry achieved a lot as our general manager in the last 10-plus seasons,” Phillips said. “On a personal level, I knew him very well. He’s a wonderful man, high character. I’ve enjoyed every day working with him. I’m gonna miss him. But at the same time, we need more. The decision was made that we need to keep up the pace with our division rivals.”

The Chicago Bears are not giving exact reasons for their decision to fire Jerry Angelo, although they have hinted at bad NFL draft day choices, instead the club is focusing on the future with a GM search already underway.

In a vote of confidence for head coach Lovie Smith the Chicago Bears front office are said to be looking for a new GM that will mesh well with Lovie while providing a “strong character and work ethic.”

According to Phillips the team will not rule out any candidates as long as they agree to keep Lovie Smith as the Chicago Bears head coach for the 2012 season.

Jerry Angelo was in his 11th season with the Chicago Bears as the teams general manager and the season was off to a quick 7-3 start until quarterback Jay Cutler broke his thumb, quickly ending the Bears playoff hopes.

Do you think the Chicago Bears needed to fire Jerry Angelo in order to build a better team for the future?

 

 

LAKE FOREST — Although most of the blame for the Chicago Bears’ epic collapse is going the offense’s way, the defensive players insisted on taking a share of the responsibility for the six-game slide as well.

“Especially the last two weeks, 38 and 35 points, that’s not going to win very many games, I don’t care who’s playing quarterback for you,” Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher said.

“We haven’t gotten any takeaways in two weeks, no pressure on the quarterback. You’re not going to win a lot of games doing that. At times we’ve held up our end of the bargain, but at times we haven’t.”

The 73 points given up by the Bears is the worst two-game total for a Chicago defense in 13 years. Last week, the defense was dominated by a rag-tag Green Bay Packer offensive line missing its top three tackles.

“We were right there before things kind of started slipping away,” defensive end Israel Idonije said. “We were in a great position, and we were just really poised to do something special. For that to slip away makes it tougher.”

Last week, the Packers opened and closed the first half with touchdown drives against the Bears and put together three straight scoring drives to ice the game in the second half.

The Bears also faded in the second half in Week 15 at home, and to a team (Seattle) they were supposed to beat. The Seahawks outscored Chicago 31-0 in the second half. Still, 14 of those points were on Caleb Hanie interceptions returned for TDs, and the Bears defense did only surrender 286 total yards.

But no matter how they look at it, this latest stretch for Chicago has not been an enjoyable one.

“You can say we did our job,” Urlacher added, “but we won’t say we did.”

Cornerback Charles Tillman, recently named to his first Pro Bowl, said this defense — this team, for that matter — is close to being great.

“This team we have is very capable. This is a championship team,” Tillman said. “Even though we’re not going to make the championship this year, we’ll take a shot at it next year.”

Bears reporter Jay Taft can be reached at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com.

Despite losing their last five games in a row, the Chicago Bears had one of their bigger Pro Bowl hauls in recent years when five players were named to the Pro Bowl. While linebackers Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher, long the mainstays of Chicago’s defense, were honored again, the most welcome news for Chicago was Charles Tillman, one of the best cornerbacks in team history, being selected for the first time and runningback Matt Forte become the Bears first running back picked in 20 years.

Special teams player Corey Graham was also picked. Julius Peppers, Chicago’s $91 million defensive end, surprisingly was not picked.

Chicago’s five picks were its biggest representation for the NFL’s all-star game since eight Bears were named in 2006, the year Chicago made it to the Super Bowl for the second time.

This is the seventh consecutive Pro Bowl nod for Briggs (2005-11 seasons), who has played well despite complaining briefly about wanting a new conrtract early in the season. He is just the fourth linebacker in franchise history to be selected to seven straight Pro Bowls joining Hall of Famers Dick Butkus (eight straight), Bill George (eight) and Mike Singletary (ten). He is the ninth player overall to be voted to seven Pro Bowls as a member of the Bears organization and the seventh to be selected seven years in-a-row. In 2011, Briggs paces the team with 140 tackles and is tied for the team lead with eight tackles for losses to go along with one interception and two forced fumbles.

Forté is the first Bears running back to be named to the Pro Bowl in 20 years. Neal Anderson made it following the 1991 season.  Prior to missing the last three contests with a knee injury, Forté led the NFL in yards from scrimmage (1,487), ranked third in the league in rushing yards (997) and ranked fourth among all running backs with 490 yards receiving. His 4.9 rushing average in 2011 is a career high and sixth among NFL running backs with at least 150 rushing attempts this season.

Graham was named to his first Pro Bowl and is the eighth Pro Bowl selection by a Bears special teams player under Special Teams Coordinator Dave Toub. Graham plays on five of the Bears six special teams units (punt coverage, kickoff coverage, punt returns, kickoff returns and field goal blocks).The Bears punt return coverage unit ranks second in the NFL this season allowing just 5.4 yards per return.

This is the first Pro Bowl nod for Tillman and he is the first Bears cornerback to be named to named to the Pro Bowl since Nathan Vasher in 2006. The ninth-year veteran ranks third on the team with a career-high 107 tackles. Tillman leads the team in pass break ups (11) and is tied for the team lead in forced fumbles (three) and fumble recoveries (two) while adding two interceptions and an interception return touchdown. Since entering the NFL in 2003, Tillman leads all defensive backs with 27 forced fumbles and his 29 interceptions is tied for ninth in the NFL overall during that time.

Urlacher was named to his eighth Pro Bowl (2000-03, 2005-06 & 2010 seasons). He is the sixth player in team history to be voted to eight Pro Bowls. He is tied for the team lead with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries and has added a fumble return touchdown.

Despite losing their last five games in a row, the Chicago Bears had one of their bigger Pro Bowl hauls in recent years when five players were named to the Pro Bowl. While linebackers Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher, long the mainstays of Chicago’s defense, were honored again, the most welcome news for Chicago was Charles Tillman, one of the best cornerbacks in team history, being selected for the first time and runningback Matt Forte become the Bears first running back picked in 20 years.

Special teams player Corey Graham was also picked. Julius Peppers, Chicago’s $91 million defensive end, surprisingly was not picked.

Chicago’s five picks were its biggest representation for the NFL’s all-star game since eight Bears were named in 2006, the year Chicago made it to the Super Bowl for the second time.

This is the seventh consecutive Pro Bowl nod for Briggs (2005-11 seasons), who has played well despite complaining briefly about wanting a new conrtract early in the season. He is just the fourth linebacker in franchise history to be selected to seven straight Pro Bowls joining Hall of Famers Dick Butkus (eight straight), Bill George (eight) and Mike Singletary (ten). He is the ninth player overall to be voted to seven Pro Bowls as a member of the Bears organization and the seventh to be selected seven years in-a-row. In 2011, Briggs paces the team with 140 tackles and is tied for the team lead with eight tackles for losses to go along with one interception and two forced fumbles.

Forté is the first Bears running back to be named to the Pro Bowl in 20 years. Neal Anderson made it following the 1991 season.  Prior to missing the last three contests with a knee injury, Forté led the NFL in yards from scrimmage (1,487), ranked third in the league in rushing yards (997) and ranked fourth among all running backs with 490 yards receiving. His 4.9 rushing average in 2011 is a career high and sixth among NFL running backs with at least 150 rushing attempts this season.

Graham was named to his first Pro Bowl and is the eighth Pro Bowl selection by a Bears special teams player under Special Teams Coordinator Dave Toub. Graham plays on five of the Bears six special teams units (punt coverage, kickoff coverage, punt returns, kickoff returns and field goal blocks).The Bears punt return coverage unit ranks second in the NFL this season allowing just 5.4 yards per return.

This is the first Pro Bowl nod for Tillman and he is the first Bears cornerback to be named to named to the Pro Bowl since Nathan Vasher in 2006. The ninth-year veteran ranks third on the team with a career-high 107 tackles. Tillman leads the team in pass break ups (11) and is tied for the team lead in forced fumbles (three) and fumble recoveries (two) while adding two interceptions and an interception return touchdown. Since entering the NFL in 2003, Tillman leads all defensive backs with 27 forced fumbles and his 29 interceptions is tied for ninth in the NFL overall during that time.

Urlacher was named to his eighth Pro Bowl (2000-03, 2005-06 & 2010 seasons). He is the sixth player in team history to be voted to eight Pro Bowls. He is tied for the team lead with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries and has added a fumble return touchdown.

With the first five-touchdown game of his NFL career, Aaron Rodgers ensured that the Green Bay Packers’ playoff road will go through Lambeau Field. 

He also made sure the rival Chicago Bears will be spending the playoffs at home.  

Rodgers broke a close game wide open by leading three quick scoring drives in the second half, and the Packers beat the Bears 35-21 on Sunday night.  

Rodgers noted that he once threw six touchdowns in junior college — also in a rivalry game — but acknowledged this one was a little bit bigger.

“Yeah, this one’s pretty special,” Rodgers said.  

With the win, the Packers (14-1) nailed down the No. 1 seed in the NFC and claimed another round of bragging rights in the NFL’s most storied rivalry by knocking the Bears out of the playoff chase.  

“We wanted the path to go through Lambeau,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.  

Rodgers threw a pair of touchdown passes to Jordy Nelson, another two to James Jones, and found tight end Jermichael Finley for a score. Rodgers was 21 of 29 for 283 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions when backup Matt Flynn took over for Rodgers with 7:54 left in the game.  

Rodgers surpassed Lynn Dickey’s single-season franchise record of 4,458 yards passing with one game left, although it’s unclear how much Rodgers will play in the Packers’ finale against Detroit.  

The loss eliminated the Bears (7-8) from playoff contention and put the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs.  

Third-string running back Kahlil Bell rushed for 121 yards for the Bears, who trailed by only four early in the third quarter. But Rodgers drove the Packers for touchdowns on their next three possessions to put the game out of reach.  

“When you play the Super Bowl champions, you have to be on top of your game,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “Offensively, we did enough things to keep us in the game and have a chance to win the game at the end. But defensively we just didn’t have it.”

McCarthy said the team’s run defense will be examined after the big performance by Bell, but added that the final score told the story.  

“We won big,” McCarthy said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Chicago came into Sunday on a four-game losing streak and beset by injuries. But the Bears were able to stay in the game with solid defense and tough running by Bell, who started because of injuries to Matt Forte and Marion Barber.  

Rodgers’ second-half fireworks proved to be too much for Chicago.  

“Thirty-five points on that defense, that’s a good night,” McCarthy said.  

The victory was the Packers’ fourth over the Bears in 2011. Green Bay also beat Chicago in the 2010 regular-season finale, the NFC Championship game, and at Soldier Field on Sept. 25.  

With the Bears trailing 14-3 at halftime, quarterback Josh McCown found Earl Bennett wide open for a 49-yard gain to set up first-and-goal on the 1. Bell fumbled just short of the goal line on the next play but offensive lineman Edwin Williams recovered the ball for a touchdown.  

With the Packers nursing a four-point lead, and the Lambeau Field crowd nervously quiet early in the third quarter, Rodgers answered by dropping deep and throwing a rainbow pass to Nelson, who blew through the Chicago secondary and hauled in the ball for a 55-yard touchdown.  

Rodgers then showed his running ability on the Packers’ next possession, juking his way between Bears linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs on a scramble. Rodgers finished the drive with a 7-yard touchdown toss to Jones, giving the Packers a commanding 28-10 lead.  

Packers safety Charlie Peprah came up with an interception, and Rodgers found Nelson for another score to give Green Bay a 35-10 lead.  

“It just hasn’t gone the way we wanted to,” Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “If we play like this, that’s what’s going to happen. The last five weeks, we haven’t played well enough to win, and we’ve lost all five games. We’re not real happy where we’re at. Our coaches aren’t happy, but that’s what we get.”

McCown finally answered with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kellen Davis — then drew the ire of the Lambeau crowd by scrambling for a two-point conversion and spiking the ball over the goalpost with his team trailing 35-18.  

Rodgers’ offensive feats came behind a patchwork offensive line, as the Packers were without three of their top four tackles.  

Chad Clifton returned to practice this week after sitting out since October because of hamstring and back injuries, but isn’t ready to play. Bryan Bulaga was inactive Sunday because of a left knee sprain, and backup Derek Sherrod is out for the season with a broken right leg.  

Green Bay also was missing wide receiver Greg Jennings, because of a sprained left knee, and defensive lineman Ryan Pickett because of a concussion.  

The Bears have lost five straight games since losing quarterback Jay Cutler to a broken right thumb in a Nov. 20 victory over San Diego. Chicago was 7-3 after that win, but came into Sunday’s game barely alive in the playoff chase.  

The Bears started McCown on Sunday after backup Caleb Hanie struggled to fill in for Cutler. McCown’s most recent start came with the Oakland Raiders in 2007, and he was out of the NFL last season.  

“It’s a tough assignment, but you’ve got to find a way to pull it off,” McCown said.  

To make matters worse for the Bears’ offense, Barber was inactive because of a calf injury. Chicago already was without Forte, who missed his third straight game because of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee.  

Notes: Sunday’s attendance was 70,574, the team’s 300th consecutive sellout, including the playoffs. … Bears offensive lineman Lance Louis left the game in the first half because of an illness. … Packers RB James Starks bruised an ankle.