>>PPS -- I see the Browns have hired another head coach. Are they determined not to win? Maybe Rod Chudzinski is a diamond in the rough. Vince Lombardi was not well known when he went to work for that team in Wisconsin. Supposedly fans still make pilgrimages to the small house he lived in and ask if they can play touch football on the lawn. Chudzinski, I'm not so sure. His chief credential is he was the offensive coordinator for the Panthers. They ranked 15th, which I guess is better than the team as a whole did.
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>>There is major drama here about the Bears' new head coach. I am among those who wonder whether it was fair to fire Lovie Smith after leading the team to a 10-6 record and missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker. There was just a sense of Lovie fatigue after 9 seasons with only one trip to the Super Bowl. There were also some Chicago sportswriters who were actively trying to run him out of town. Jerks. Chicago has the most vicious sports media this side of Boston. What have they missed in Bears history that makes them expect the Bears to be perennial Super Bowl contenders?
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>>Here's to a 2013 postseason in which da Bears and Browns meet in the Super Bowl ;-)
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>I'm for that. It will be the highest sales numbers for various forms of Polish sausage in SB history :-)
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>I think you'll like Trestman. Looks like we're getting Norv Turner as OC and that is a very good thing.
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>Chud made a good impression at his press conference in that he emphasized designing around your players.
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>I think this is really key. College coaches have "systems". Saban gets to fill his roster every year with exactly what he wants and out-talent most of the teams around him. Recruiting is done for the system.
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>NFL teams have players. You take the best players you can get, try to get them to work together and design something that works. Chud got a pro-bowl season out of Derek Anderson for godsake. Bellicheck is a master at this. ( tight ends and linebackers anyone?) Shurmer wanted Weedon to be Montana. This could be very interesting if they don't go too far and blow up the D to go to a 3-4 where we just don't have the OLBs to make it possible. I think he has something more complex in mind where he can spring a 3-4 or a 4-3 on an opponent on game day ( Bellicheck shutdown Jerry Rice and the 49ers that way once back in the 90s )

Marc Trestman is not a done deal. Supposedly it started with something Jimmy Johnson tweeted. (Football trivia: Johnson played college football with Jerry Jones at Arkansas). Trestman and Bears people say the head coach search is still in the early stages. From what I have read about Trestman he sounds great.

Do you care to go out on a limb with playoff picks this weekend? I will go far as saying I think the Seahawks will knock off the Falcons in Atlanta but mostly I have gone out of the prediction business. I wind up cheering for my picks to be right instead of just enjoying the games. These should be good ones.

Good observation about college vs. NFL coaches. College coaches can bend 18-22 year old guys to their will. It doesn't work that way in the pros. It almost makes me laugh when the names of college coaches come up every time there is an NFL vacancy. There is very little history supporting that direction.