In the face of skepticism, criticism and no doubt several other isms he didn’t even know about, Dick Jauron’s status coming into this NFL season could have secured him a job as pitchman for Mr. Bubble.
So precarious did his position appear, the question was not how the bubble would burst or even when, but who would replace him as Bears head coach after it did. But don’t count out Jauron just yet.
And don’t be at all surprised if he’s the Bears’ coach when the 2002 season begins.
Granted, the Bears are just two games into the season at 1-1, but instead of looking for reasons to start anew next year, general manager Jerry Angelo may be forced to continue some positive momentum.
One of the keys to all of this is quarterback Jim Miller, who can be the perfect bridge to the future. If Miller can stay healthy, he can win games. He is also one of the few starting quarterbacks who can be counted on to guide your next rookie draft pick. And more important, not pout about it.
That Miller is only 30, with low mileage, no chronic ailments–he’s performing well while not fully back from an Achilles’ tendon injury–and his biggest setbacks have been of the flukish variety, is a bonus.
Angelo has spoken candidly of the difficulty of he and Jauron growing together after joining the organization at different stages of rebuilding. But you can’t help but think this Bears team looks like the type whose development can actually forge that sort of shared experience.
Assuming Angelo continues to tinker with a defense that still has a few more bigger, slower bodies than he prefers, it is a group that is nonetheless showing itself as more than capable of keeping the Bears in those games Miller is now supposed to win.
Now if they can just find a running game that was beginning to hit its stride in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s victory over Minnesota, there is no sound reason, except that they’re the Bears, why anyone at Soldier Field should be wearing bags over their heads.
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So now we’re back to Jauron, who had better have more going for him than that and, lucky for him, does.
Unlike so many bubble coaches who end up becoming self-fulfilling prophecies, so uptight over their predicaments that they implode, lose their teams or start making job-saving moves rather than sound football decisions, Jauron is not going to crack. And the only way he loses this team is if the apparition of Cade McNown comes back as third-team holder.
All of Halas Hall is openly rooting for not just the Bears but for Jauron to succeed, and that cannot be lost on Angelo either. In Tampa, Angelo admired Tony Dungy for his dignified yet intense manner, qualities that may take a little time to be fully revealed in the case of Jauron, whose listening skills could have him looking ambivalent or remote to someone who doesn’t know him. But Jauron’s quiet integrity, cool-headedness and leadership are starting to impress Angelo.
The two don’t have to be best friends, Angelo has said, but it helps if they are compatible. And as they become better acquainted, this is happening naturally between two men who share the same goal.
At the end of the season Angelo may have other considerations. He has stressed that he likes assistant coaches who can teach as opposed to system fanatics who only work well with veterans, which might cause him to look hard at Jauron’s staff and determine if he thinks changes should be made.
Who makes those changes–Jauron’s loyalty may make that difficult for him–and how they’re made may play into the equation.
It is, of course, ultimately up to Jauron’s team, which must win enough games for Angelo to look as if he’s making a prudent decision in keeping him. But then Angelo isn’t the type to care much how we read that anyway.
It is evident now that Dave Wannstedt, who is 13-5 with the Dolphins in just over a season, is a better coach with a better organization behind him. In Jauron’s third season with the Bears and first under what could be the best regime in more than a decade once Angelo catches up from a late start, Jauron’s biggest failure will always be how he handled McNown, a player who probably never should have been drafted in the first place.
In other words, Jauron will be as good at his job as Angelo is at his.
The question is whether he will be here long enough to find out how good both can be. The guess is that he will.