Firing Angelo was the right decision, except that it was made by Phillips

The Bears being the Bears, it's not surprising that they made bold, extremely popular decisions this week and included provisions that ticked off much of their fan base.

General manager Jerry Angelo received his (in the eyes of many) long-overdue firing Tuesday morning. When the news broke, many observers assumed it was the work of George McCaskey, who became team chairman in May.

It's not ... or so the Bears say. During an afternoon press conference, McCaskey made it clear that team president Ted Phillips, not himself, was responsible for the decision. Phillips also — according to the Bears — is solely responsible for hiring the new G.M. Eleven years ago, Phillips infamously consulted with a search firm before hiring Angelo. Zero Super Bowl titles later, he is permitted to choose Angelo's successor. This time, at least, Phillips says he'll do it all by himself.

You would think that, even if part of the job is working under the NFL version of Crane Kenney, the Bears job would be a desirable one for the league's brightest executives. It is an iconic franchise in a great market. The cupboard is hardly bare; your franchise quarterback is in place in Jay Cutler, and an aging defense might have a Super Bowl run in it with a few additions and/or a good complementary offense.

But the Bears made the job less appealing by insisting that coach Lovie Smith will return in 2012. Despite the fact that the general manager is supposed to have authority over the head coach in the Bears' chain of command, the Bears are contradictorily giving their hire no immediate control of Smith's future. Even on the surface, that edict limits a hire's power; some are theorizing that it really means Smith, not the GM, will be the biggest authority on Bears football operations going forward.

I like Smith. I think he is a good coach. His flaws (poor clock management, bad challenges, etc.) aren't as bad as they used to be, and they were never enough to offset his strengths (great motivator, good defensive strategist, good game planner). That Smith has gone 71-57 with the teams Angelo gave him — even the Super Bowl team was quarterbacked by Rex Grossman, for crying out loud — is both impressive and underrated.