Bernstein: Should Tice Have Been Fired?
It was quiet news around here early yesterday: the Miami Dolphins told third-year special teams coach John Bonamego to pack his things and leave the premises.
His unit had just surrendered a blocked field goal, a blocked punt and a kickoff return for a touchdown in an embarrassing loss at home to the Patriots, and he was summarily let go.
So in this, the Season of New Accountability for the Bears, we wonder if a similar fate could have befallen the man in charge of the Bears' offensive line after their own inexcuseable performance Sunday night.
An NFL record nine sacks in a first half of carnage and chaos left Jay Cutler battered and woozy. All attempts to block the Giants failed, including double-tight-end formations. Often, rushers came entirely untouched — there was nary even a holding penalty taken in desperation.
Mike Tice is the offensive line coach, a former head coach signed to solidify a patchwork group to block a complex, high-octane offense. He reacted defensively, remember, after the Bears allowed the Raiders to attack them similarly in the preseason, boasting of 37 different protections he uses to keep quarterbacks safe.
Whether all 37 were employed in New York is not immediately known.
So how is Tice's situation different from that of Bonamego? First — and most obviously — he is a big name, first year hire. A reactive dismissal after a bad performance (albeit historically bad, and for the nation to see in prime time, and involving the NFL's two largest media markets) would project unnecessary panic early in a season that still sees the Bears leading their division.
Second, the nature of coaching special teams is fundamentally different from coaching any individual position. The bottom third of every roster is largely interchangeable in theory, because of the amount of change it actually sees from year to year and week to week. Simply, coaching matters more when the talent level between teams is pretty much equal.
Talent disparities can be clearer in line play, where the best blockers are often high draft picks with established skill. It is more likely that the absolute difference between Tice and OL coach "x" is far less than that of Bonamego and his replacement. You can pin much of this on drafting and evaluation, which may bode ill, indeed, for the remainder of the season.
Fans love the satisfaction of a head on a platter after a miserable game, but such thrills are fleeting. Canning Tice would be rash, spectacular, perhaps roundly praised, and probably insignificant when all is said and done.
