The only way the Bears considered signing quarterback Jake Delhomme during free-agency was as a backup, and the coaching staff fully supported that direction, an annoyed Jerry Angelo said Monday night.
The Bears general manager disputed the accounts of former Bears assistant coaches in a Tribune story Tuesday in which the coaches portrayed him as a meddler who insisted on signing Kordell Stewart over Delhomme despite the coaching staff ranking Stewart as the seventh-best quarterback available, well behind Delhomme.
“There was never, ever a mention of signing Jake as our starting quarterback,” Angelo said. “Our coaches, to a man, knew that our goal was to sign an experienced quarterback and then draft a young quarterback to develop.”
Delhomme, who was signed by the Panthers and will start in Sunday’s Super Bowl, had started two games and only played in six before this season. That made Stewart a more obvious choice, Angelo said, after it appeared Denver would sign Jake Plummer.
“There was tremendous sentiment in the room for Kordell,” Angelo said. “There was not one guy breathing the name Jake Delhomme [as a starter].”
Angelo allowed it was possible for Bears assistants to have favored Delhomme but rejected the notion head coach Dick Jauron wasn’t in favor of signing Stewart. He said that every major decision since taking over as general manager in 2001 has resulted from what he and Jauron agreed to after frank discussion, and not necessarily a consensus of what Jauron’s staff wanted.
As for the decision to cut wide receiver Edell Shepherd and keep former first-round draft pick David Terrell, a move one source said damaged team morale, Angelo acknowledged one assistant lobbied hard to keep Shepherd instead of Terrell. But Angelo said it made no sense financially.
“We could never cut David Terrell given the [salary-] cap situation,” Angelo said. “And all the coaches knew that.”
Angelo blamed the characterization of his relationship with Jauron’s staff and handling of the Delhomme situation on the bruised psyches of fired Bears coaches. He expressed worry about the damage such a perception might create among new assistants and explained he would have been available to respond Monday if he wasn’t so busy helping Smith fill his staff.
A request for his comments was made Monday morning, but the Bears said he was unavailable. “I never imagined something like this would get out there that is so untrue,” Angelo said. “I had a good, close relationship with many of those [former] assistants, and it’s unfortunate that there was an agenda that had to be advanced.”
From Buckeyes’ backfield to the Bears’
The Bears hired Ohio State running backs coach Tim Spencer on Tuesday. Spencer has spent the past 10 seasons coaching running backs at his alma mater. New Bears coach Lovie Smith and Spencer were on the same Ohio State staff in 1995. Spencer spent a year in Chicago playing with the USFL’s Chicago Blitz in 1983.
