Bears hiring process likely to go deep into the playoffs

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Just because the Bears and Lovie Smith didnt go deep into the postseason doesnt mean the search for his successor wont.Look for the stream of news, near-news and faux news to go on for a while as far the Bears coaching search. General manager Phil Emerys stress of the word thorough says that this will not be a hurried process.The last time the Bears rushed through a head-coaching search was 20 years ago when Dave Wannstedt was the hot get and Michael McCaskey made landing Wannstedt a mission statement. Dont look for brother George pushing Emery to follow the same methodology.Candidate-watching: One with a Cutler connectionColleague Dave Zangaro at CSNHouston.com is busy with a playoff team this week but shot me a note regarding an intriguing name in the coaching spectrum:Texans offensive coordinator Rick Dennison.Dennison cant be talked to about jobs until either the Texans are eliminated from the playoffs or during the off-week before the Super Bowl. And he rightly brushed off head-coach questions this week.But heres the intriguing deal with Dennison: He may have arguably the best resume of any candidate under consideration.He was Jay Cutlers offensive coordinator in Denver when Cutler was having his one Pro Bowl season. That was under Mike Shanahan and with Jeremy Bates as quarterbacksreceivers coach, so Cutler was raised by committee.More to the overall, Dennison was a linebacker with the Broncos for eight seasons. Then he was the Broncos special-teams coach, offensive line coach and coordinator before joining former teammate Gary Kubiaks staff in Houston.If youre keeping score, that would be experience in all three on-field phases of football. And given the development of Matt Schaub along with the 2011 scramble with Matt Leinart and T.J. Yates after Schaub was injured, Dennison is nothing if not anadapter.Dont put the name into the Bears mix just yet. There are enough of those swirling around. But if working with Cutler is a job requirement, Dennison is the only coordinator whos still coordinating after time with Cutler.

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