Jay Glazer @Jay Glazer

Bears promoting Mike Tice to offensive coordinator, putting him in charge of run game and pairing him w a passing game coach. Tice is OC tho

During his tenure in Jacksonville, the Jaguars -- employing a smashmouth brand of football -- ranked among the league's best at running the ball. From 2006-09, the Jaguars averaged a league high 154 yards rushing in division games. From 2005-09, the Jags led the NFL with a 138.3-yard rushing average in games on the road, including 127.1 yards per game in Tice's final season with the team.Despite his intricate knowledge of the running game, Tice has also displayed the propensity to generate fireworks with the passing attack. Some think Tice -- a former college quarterback and NFL tight end -- has never been an offensive play caller. But as head coach in Minnesota, Tice called plays as offensive coordinator Scott Linehan -- now with Detroit -- transitioned into his new job.

Tice shares the philosophies of head coach Lovie Smith in terms of balance and emphasis on running the ball. But Tice has shown a penchant for utilizing the deep passing game, which should jibe well with Cutler, who possesses one of the league's strongest arms.

The Vikings ranked in the top five in yardage during Tice's second and third seasons as head coach and in the top 10 in terms of scoring in three years of his five-year tenure.

jammin481 wrote:No-brainer.

anotheridiot wrote:

jammin481 wrote:No-brainer.

No brainer because nobody wants to interview. cant even get any GM candidates in, partly because they cant hire their own coach, but now the entire staff will be in place before the GM is hired. Sounds like Tim Ruskell will just be promoted if they cant get anyone interested in applying for the job.

According to a club and NFL sources, the Raiders have requested permission to interview Tice for their head coaching position. In accordance with NFL rules, the Bears must grant permission, unlike the move they made Monday when they blocked secondary coach Jon Hoke from interviewing with the Vikings for their defensive coordinator position.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/fo ... 3683.story

Michael C. Wright @mikecwright

Mike Tice staying w/Bears team announced.

"The biggest strength we have is a quarterback who can make all the throws," Tice said. "We text, we talk on the phone, almost daily. Extensive texting. He's asking a lot of questions and I'm giving him straight up answers. He either likes the answers or he says, 'Oh, OK,' which means he doesn't like some of the answers.

"Right now, we have a great understanding of what our philosophy is going to be. And, all of the stuff that we are going to do, he has done. So that is a good thing."

The new offense isn't going to feature some staples of the Martz attack that caused problems the last two seasons. But Tice isn't going to change the terminology so there should be a relatively seamless transition. That's one reason why he was an easy choice for coach Lovie Smith.

"I am tailoring what I am doing to what I've done, which is common sense," Tice said. "Why run it when they have one more guy than you can block? Why not throw it when you have free access and you have a guy who can beat single coverage?

"… To do that you have to have the ability to check at the line of scrimmage, you have to have the ability to have a short passing game. And then I'm a no-huddle guy and we don't have no huddle. … I want to be able to go no huddle and change the rhythm offensively."

An evaluation of that unit always begins at left tackle. Where is he withJ'Marcus Webb, who will be remembered for a poor Week 17 showing at Minnesota?

"Here is what I saw with him: Second-year player playing one side one year and one side another," Tice said. "I thought he was adequate. His consistency grade was actually solid. What grade was bad was the critical errors, the sacks, penalties.

"… Well, if you're not always in the deep drops, if you're making sure the guy gets chip help from a back or a tight end and if you change the release point of the quarterback, you're going to make him better already without making him better.

"And then you have an entire offseason (with) a chance to make him better there. He is a very good run blocker. Do I think he is a guy moving forward? Yes, I do unless some miracle happens and an elite first-round draft pick that we couldn't pass up fell in our lap, which I doubt. Yeah, he's our guy moving forward."

He believes the Bears can make better use of their current wide receivers by getting the ball in their hands quicker, but also sees a possibility for additions, decisions the new general manager and Smith will make.

"If I had a question asked of me, 'What do we need?' I would say we're going to run what I learned from (Joe Gibbs with the Redskins and did with Denny Green with the Vikings) and did myself when I was the (Vikings) head coach.

"If you're going to take advantage of the box count and you're going to get the ball to that guy with single coverage, you need a guy who is going to get open more than 90 percent of the time. We don't have a guy who has stepped up, in my opinion, and shown us that ability. We either have to develop one who is in the building or we have to bring one in via the draft or free agency.

"There are three ways right there and the fourth is to put them in better positions to succeed. We're going to do that."

The Stache wrote:Jay being able to audible is going to be huge. Hes a very smart QB and can make any read. Put the call in his hands.