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Posted by ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert

In my never-ending search for conspiracy and intrigue, perhaps I’m too eager to read between the lines. So feel free to judge for yourself the following quote from Chicago general manager Jerry Angelo, who was asked to explain Sunday’s 45-10 loss at Cincinnati:

Smith

Angelo: “I don’t want to take anything away from the Bengals because they are a very good offensive football team with a great receiver, a great quarterback and a running back who’s having a Pro Bowl year. But what really surprised me was that we weren’t able to make the needed adjustments in terms of slowing them down or stopping them. We let that go really throughout four quarters. We couldn’t slow them down and make some stops or even force them to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown to keep us in the game where we could have some hope. That surprised me. I didn’t expect to see that.”

Let’s see. A general manager talking about “needed adjustments.” Who is in charge of making adjustments? The coaching staff, naturally. And who makes the defensive adjustments for the Bears? Coach Lovie Smith, who appointed himself the de facto defensive coordinator during the offseason.

It’s subtle, but Angelo sure seems to be calling out Smith and his staff for not finding a way to stem the Bengals’ onslaught. Keep in mind this quote was published exclusively on the Bears’ Web site. It wasn’t culled from some kind of Rotary speech or other event that was intended to be private. Angelo wanted this quote to be published.

By the way, I happen to agree: The Bears have too much talent on defense to be physically overwhelmed for 60 minutes. But much like Angelo was surprised about the lack of adjustments, I’m taking notice that he brought up the topic in the first place.

Smith has two years remaining on his contract. It’s hard to imagine the Bears paying him some $11 million to walk away at the end of this season. But quotes like this one won’t do anything to quell that kind of speculation.