Monday, February 23, 2009

It comes back to players wanting to be great and then putting that into action

Ask Bears GM Jerry Angelo (at right with CHI coach Lovie Smith) about the key to winning and he'll tell you this:

"It comes back to players wanting to be great and then putting that into action in terms of their work ethic, in terms of doing all the things that they need to do and holding themselves personally accountable to be the best they can be," Angelo said. "That's all we ask of our players: Just be the best you can be, stay within the framework of the team and hang tough. If you get a locker room full of players with that mentality, you don't need great talent to win on Sunday. Coaching will take you so far. Our coaches will be driven to be a great team. That's what we're expected to do, and we're all paid to win, but we're all incumbent to do our jobs. We're all held accountable."

Angelo adds that a team's identity is re-made each season:

"Every year, a team takes on a whole new identity. You can't look at last year and say, 'Well, they're going to pick up off here' to the good or the bad. A team takes on that identity starting when they come back in the offseason program, and that's incumbent of the players."