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The Chicago Bears placed their trust in general manager Jerry Angelo, but he didn't have any faith in coach Dick Jauron.
After receiving a four-year contract extension through 2008, Angelo fired Jauron on Monday.
Jauron had an 11-21
record over the last two years after guiding the Bears to a division title in
2001.
"To achieve our goal of winning a championship, we felt a new direction
was needed," said Angelo at an afternoon news conference.
Jauron, 53, had one year remaining on his contract.
Speculation immediately swirled around Louisiana State coach Nick Saban, a long-time friend of Angelo, as a possible replacement. However, the Bears are not known for spending big money on coaches and would have to pay a significant price to lure Saban from the college ranks.
Bears president Ted Phillips, who also was signed to a four-year extension through 2008 on Monday, disputed that finances will play a part in Chicago's hiring of a new coach.
"We know what the market is for head coaches and we'll be as competitive as we need to be to find the right person for the job," Phillips said.
Angelo inherited Jauron when he took over as Bears general manager prior to the 2001 season. Jauron was entering the final year of his contract then and was believed to be on his way out, but ended up leading the Bears to a 13-3 record and the NFC Central Division title.
That earned Jauron a new three-year deal, but the Bears were plagued by injuries and crumbled to 4-12 in 2002.
This past season, Jauron improved the Bears to 7-9, but it was not enough to satisfy Angelo.
"We went into the season believing this was a playoff team," Angelo said. "We just weren't as consistent as we needed to be."
In his five seasons as coach, Jauron was 35-46 overall, including a playoff loss to Philadelphia in 2001. But his tenure is best known for Chicago's carousel of quarterbacks - as many as 25 were used. Kordell Stewart, Chris Chandler and rookie Rex Grossman started at quarterback in 2003.
Angelo traded the fourth overall pick in the 2003 draft for two first-round picks and selected defensive end Michael Haynes and Grossman.
Over the last two years,
Angelo has extended the contracts of nine starters, including Pro Bowlers Brian
Urlacher, Olin Kreutz and Jerry Azumah.