John Harbaugh says the Bears weren’t “ethical” on draft day

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We thought the controversy about the Bears-Ravens draft snafu was over when we learned the league would not award the Ravens a draft pick for the mess.

For those who forgot about the story, the Ravens believe they had a deal to move down with Chicago. The Bears said they made a “mistake” by not calling it in.  Ravens coach John Harbaugh isn’t buying that excuse.

“I’m not buying a ‘mistake’ thing. They knew what they were doing,” Harbaugh said on “The Waddle and Silvy” Show on 1000 AM in Chicago, via a transcript sent to PFT.

Harbaugh didn’t stop there.  He outlined how he believes the Bears bilked him.

“They agreed to [trade] a pick. They got their guy [tackle Gabe Carimi] on the phone. They recognized he wasn’t getting calls from the team behind them,” Harbaugh said. “And then they basically stalled for over a minute, telling us that they had called the trade in. So that was just not honest.

“That’s not OK. It’s not ethical, it’s not right. I personally agree with our owner [Steve Bisciotti] that they should have been held accountable for it.  We basically took them at their word, and obviously that was a mistake.”

Boom.  Roasted.   We’re sad to say the Bears and Ravens do not meet up in 2011.

75 responses to “John Harbaugh says the Bears weren’t “ethical” on draft day

  1. Gee there may not be a season and Harbaugh is crying already. Bring out the Kleenex.

  2. Bears Ravens Superbowl!!

    jk

    …because the Bears won’t make it to the superbowl.

    Seriously though, as a Ravens fan, they need to drop it – nothing will come of it at this point. It would’ve been awesome if Harbaugh said that on the Tuesday after the draft, not three months later

  3. It’s not boom, roasted unless you are talking about a league fine for Harbaugh. The league made its decision that there was no foul, and Harbaugh is calling them out for making an unfair and stupid decision. The lockout doesn’t prevent the league from disciplining its own – especially since we have one of these knuckleheads on each coast now.

  4. Maybe go down to McDonalds and get you a whah burger and some french cries. How about a weinekin. – Kid Rock in Joe Dirt.

  5. Funny, hear was the Raven’s perspective when they did the same thing to the Vikings in 2003: “The deal was not consummated,” general manager Ozzie Newsome said at Baltimore’s headquarters. “A deal is not a deal until I talk to Joel Bussert, and I never talked to Joel Bussert.” So apparently a deal is a deal on good faith when they were hosed, but it’s not when they are on the other side.

  6. Cry me a river John.

    Our GM wasn’t ethical on draft day last year for trading away this years 33rd pick for Armanti freaking Edwards.

    So again I say, cry me a river John.

  7. I wish Miami had a coach like Harbaugh. Tough guy attitude with the boots to match.

  8. It’s the same crap KC pulled on the Vikings years ago and the media interpretation was that the Vikings goofed. No one reported that there was a trade and KC backed out with 1 second left on the clock. Oh well, the Vikings ended up with DT Kevin Williams – so I guess that worked out pretty well.

  9. Lesson learned: Never, never NEVER again trust Jerry Angelo or anyone else running the show for the Bears on draft day. From now on, caveat emptor.

  10. Wow, Johnny boy is into conspiracy theories. Funny that he seems to know exactly how they did it. Maybe because Baltimore has experience in doing the exact same thing?

    Baltimore said they couldn’t call in a trade because the NFL phones were “busy”. But then they sat there and watched other teams turn in picks and never told the Vikings there was a problem or tried to go to the desk to turn in a pick. Any other team might have a beef. Payback is a b**ch.

    Pot, meet kettle.

  11. No doubt, the Ravens will eventually face the Bears and this is an ugly scar. One thing about an ugly scar, is they never go away, never, ever. There is going to be a bad taste in the mouth of the Ravens for a long time and the next time they play, expect to see a couple Chicago players on stretchers and the score about 50 – 0.

  12. I wish they’d get to play each other. We’d hear sniping from everyone except players. If I’m a Raven I’m pissed at my management for getting snookered by Angelo.

  13. Is there any team that whines more than the Ravens? Nothing is EVER their fault, it’s always some huge conspiracy arrayed against them that is the source of all of their problems and the only reason they don’t win the Super Bowl every year.

  14. This can’t be true.

    All the experts from the PFT peanut gallery have made clear that the Patriots are the only team in the history of the NFL that has cheated.

    They couldn’t be wrong… could they?

  15. Ask an honest question, get an honest answer. It’s called an interview, what was he supposed to say? Wonder how many people will say it’s “whining”

  16. The Bears are probably wrong in the way they handled it but Harbaugh needs to get over it. Let it go, Jim. Don’t you have other things to think about now, like free agency and trianing camp? Stop acting like the guy who got stood up and can’t get over it.

  17. rugdog100 says:
    Jul 19, 2011 1:57 PM
    It’s the same crap KC pulled on the Vikings years ago and the media interpretation was that the Vikings goofed. No one reported that there was a trade and KC backed out with 1 second left on the clock. Oh well, the Vikings ended up with DT Kevin Williams – so I guess that worked out pretty well.
    ______________

    Ravens, not Chiefs. The Chiefs bit was the year before when the Chiefs failed to get their pick in on time and the Vikings were criticized for not jumping in ahead of them.

  18. What goes around comes around. Ain’t Karma a bitch? Remember the 2003 draft? Guess the Bears stole that play from your draft manual…..

  19. Get over it already Ravens. It’s your own fault for not doing your own due diligence and realizing the Bears have no clue what the hell they are doing when it comes to the first round of the draft. I mean what have they had, ONE or TWO good pick in 20+ years?

  20. he probably is over it. i’m sure the radio host asked him a question about it and he answered.

  21. Does anyone really think this will make a difference the next time they play? When they’re on the field do you think the Ravens are going to be thinking “Man, I’m gonna kick some a$$ today becuase I’m still pissed about the 2011 draft!”
    When the game starts the players aren’t going to think about front office revenge. A lot of them are friends off the field. You think Ed Reed will try to take Hester’s head off because Jerry Angelo did something unethical?

  22. Come on. They both got the players they wanted anyway. Why is Harbaugh always complaining about being wronged?

  23. Always wining. I would hate to have a coach who wines so much. You got played idiot.

  24. Hard to blame the Bears (what did I just say?!?!?). More likely the NFL rule-makers are at fault, here.

  25. Another reason why the league should stop letting teams call their picks prior to drafting them.

    Or at least keep the cameras off them. It takes the suspense out of the draft and now it appears teams are using reactions to leverage potential deals.

  26. I’m not a Vikings fan but ask them about 2003…and just for the record have the Bears ever really shown the ability to make very many good decisions on draft day anyways? It pains me to rattle of the list being a Bears fan but with standouts like Curtis Enis, Rashaan Salaam, Cade McNown, and David Terrell on the list could Harbaugh really have expected this to go real smooth? I’m not sayin I’m just sayin….

  27. unethical, dishonorable, crooked, indecent, deeply-flawed, overrated, ugly, pouty….

  28. Get over it Harbaugh. He is such a cry baby. It holds his team back because they take their cues from him – any time anything goes against them, no matter what, the team goes into a downward spiral. You can guarantee if there is a bad call, or even a borderline call, that goes against the Ravens, no matter at what point of the game, you will hear Harbaugh whining about it for days. He has a of passion but he needs to learn how to move on with his life and focus on himself and his team.

  29. Why 2003 Trade Snafu Differs From 2011

    The debate continues as to whether the Chicago Bears should have honored their verbal trade agreement last Thursday and given their fourth-round draft pick to the Ravens (if you are unaware of the background, this and this will help).

    “CHI doesn’t owe BAL a damn thing,” @art33182 tweeted to SI.com’s Peter King yesterday. “BAL did the same thing to MIN back in 2003.”

    King responded, “Not true. Read MMQB [Monday Morning Quarterback].”

    So I did, and you may want to too.

    “The Ravens-Vikings draft-trade story of 2003 is not quite the same,” King wrote in his weekly column. “Similar, but know the story before you say this is the Karma God getting even with Ozzie Newsome.”

    In 2003, both Jacksonville (picking at No. 8) and Baltimore (No. 10) wanted to draft quarterback Byron Leftwich. To leapfrog the Jags, Baltimore called Minnesota (No. 7) to negotiate a deal. Not willing to give up their quarterback so easily, Jacksonville also offered a trade to Minnesota. While Minnesota played both sides to get more in the deal, the clock was winding down.

    With minutes remaining, the Vikings told the Jags they were making a deal with Baltimore, King explained. Thus, Newsome’s team attempted to call the league to report the deal, but after several attempts, they failed to get through because the phone lines were busy. (There’s been speculation that the Jags tied up the phone lines purposefully.)

    Note the first difference between the two trade stories. In 2003, the communication error was not on the Ravens. The league’s telephone lines blocked Newsome’s call. After the snafu, King explained the NFL added two additional phone lines so teams could always get through in the future. In 2011, the Bears insisted to Newsome that they had made the call, when in the end, they really hadn’t.

    Still, the Vikings’ time expired and the deal was never consummated for the same reason the Bears-Ravens trade wasn’t consummated – the agreement was never reported to league officials. So when the clock hit zero in 2003, Jacksonville, who was next on the clock, quickly jumped in front of the Vikings and drafted Leftwich.

    Note the second difference between the two trade stories. In 2011, both teams eventually got the players they wanted, but in 2003 the Ravens paid a big price. Despite a verbal trade agreement, Baltimore lost out on who they thought could be their franchise quarterback. The Vikings said they still got the player they wanted, but lost out on two extra draft picks. The Jags were the only real winners (although Leftwich never panned out to be that franchise quarterback).

    It’s important to keep this context in mind when hearing Newsome’s quote after the Vikings-Ravens non-trade: “The deal was not consummated. A deal is not a deal until I talk to Joel Bussert, and I never talked to Joel Bussert.”

    This quote makes it seem like Baltimore was trying to get out of their agreement at the time. But in all reality, it was the Ravens who may have had the biggest cause to protest by losing so much in the debacle. The Ravens wanted Leftwich, they had an agreement that should have made that happen, but a technicality prevented the move.

    Instead of complaining about the league’s phone lines and his loss, Newsome did the honorable thing and accepted the consequences.

    @art33182 is right. Chicago doesn’t owe Baltimore anything. Nobody has made that case; instead, the debate has revolved around honor. It was the Bears who made the mistake this time around, yet they still profited by their own error. They got the player they wanted (Wisconsin tackle Gabe Carimi) and didn’t have to give up an extra pick.

    “The right thing would have been to give Baltimore something — either the fourth-round pick or some pick to make up for what turned out to be a broken promise,” wrote King. “The NFL ruled because the Bears never informed the league of the deal, it wasn’t official. I like [Bears General Manager] Jerry Angelo a lot. Always have. But this is dead wrong, and it’s a terrible message to send to fans and people who follow the league.”

  30. @Rockinron2 and mnnightowl:

    The 2003 Vikings/Ravens situation is different from this year’s 2011 Bears/Ravens situation because the Jaguars tied up the phone lines with time running out on the clock. The quote from Ozzie Newsome was so bland because Shack Harris (the Jaguars VP of Player Personel at the time) was/is a good friend of his. The Ravens people kept trying to get through in 2003 while the Bears’ front office had no intention of doing so.

    Secondly, he was asked to be on a Chicago radio show. Of course they’re going to ask him about it and he’s has no problem sharing the story.

  31. Just FYI for those thinking this will hurt the Bears in making draft trades in the future, they did it the very next round to get Paea. I don’t think any of the other owners are concerned. They are more than likely saying, “why didn’t the Ravens have a pick ready in case.”

  32. From “Remember The Titans” – “Run it up Herman, leave no doubt” – When Bears/Ravens nextmeet – Run it up Cam, O uh, youre still here? Well, nevermind, just try to score more points then they do!

  33. The Bears’ behavior is that of the typical Illinesian. Unethical and dishonest, with an underlying current of entitlement.

    I can’t wait to watch the Bears and the Vikings duke it out for last place in the NFC Central.

  34. As a Bears fan who lives in a Pittsburgh town but works in MD, I can tell you without any sort of bias whatsoever:

    The Ravens (and that means players, coaches, fans, etc.) are in fact the biggest group of whining, crying, woe-is-me, self-pity-party-throwing, excuse-making, cross-carrying crybaby boo-hoo’ers in the ENTIRE NFL.

    They are true whine connoisseurs.

    The refs are against them, the league is against them, the Commissioner is against them, the other teams are against them — play that waa waa peddle, Ravens.

    And this crying goes all the way back to the loss of the Baltimore Colts — those fans STILL act the beetch bout all that.

    The thing that’s clear to this impartial observer: The Ravens exist in a perpetual state of inferiority complex, always TRYING desperately, in vain, to live up to reputation and accomplishments of the Steelers.

    Is it cold living in that shadow, Ravens fans?

    Hey Harbaugh, how about you get down off your cross and instead of crying like a schoolgirl with scraped knees, you start worrying about coaching your team up correctly, so it doesn’t collapse like a punctured lung (gratuitous Ray Lewis stabbing reference!) in the 3rd quarter of a playoff game?

    What was that last year? — THREE turnovers in your own territory in the third quarter?
    A series of drops and incomplete passes to end the game in spectacularly soul-crushing fashion?

    Yeah, one botched communication on draft day that didn’t and doesn’t even affect your pick or personnel in ANY way whatsoever is really what you need to be focused on instead. RIGHT.

  35. During the interview Harbaugh didn’t bring it up out of the blue – he was asked about it. Actually, I think his response was respectful, as well as informative. If you don’t want to hear the answer – then don’t ask the question.

  36. To the guy that quoted King Peter:

    “The right thing would have been to give Baltimore something — either the fourth-round pick or some pick to make up for what turned out to be a broken promise,” wrote King. “The NFL ruled because the Bears never informed the league of the deal, it wasn’t official. I like [Bears General Manager] Jerry Angelo a lot. Always have. But this is dead wrong, and it’s a terrible message to send to fans and people who follow the league.”

    First, Peter King is King of the Peters — a doosh and a tool and a pompous, arrogant, narcissistic gaseous windbag at that.

    Second — he HATES the Bears, and always has.
    This is well known and well documented. It’s obvious that he’s in physical pain any time he has to say anything even remotely positive about them. So for you to quote him as some kind of authority here is just laughable.

    Third — it’s obvious to me. Any time someone has to say, “I like so-and-so a lot, I really do!” that should be a dead giveaway that in fact they can’t stand the sight of the person, and find their very existence repugnant.

    Fourth — who the hell does King Peter think he is to say what is “honorable” and what isn’t? Like he’s somehow the moral standard for everyone else? S! T! F! U! and get over yourself, Captain Pompous.

    Where this notion that the Bears “OWE” the Ravens anything comes from is actually King Peter’s own sissy-ast crybaby liberal entitlement-driven worldview and ideology, where the victims are ALWAYS right.

  37. Okay, for the ’03 draft and the phone lines were “busy,” are we really to believe, that with 30 NFL teams, the league office only has 1 line to receive phone calls? I am no phone technician, but Call Waiting and Call Forwarding was around then. Seriously, when was the last time anyone heard a busy signal?

  38. Like stuartscottslefteye said, its not like he went on the radio seething about what happened. It’s an interview, in which the interviewer asks the interviewee several questions pertaining to events that have recently transpired. Being a Chicago radio station, this issue was clearly the elephant in the room so everyone knew it would be talked about. Harbaugh isn’t whining, he just gave an answer to the question that was asked. I’m beating a dead horse here, but if Chicago fans want to really see what whining is, they need look no further than their own quarterback.

  39. If the Bears are unethical, then so are the Ravens, considering Ozzie Newsome made the same exact mistake a few years earlier. I guess it’s only unethical when the Ravens are the victim.

  40. Who freaking cares? Both teams got the player they wanted. Why should the Bears have to pay Baltimore for a guy who was going to be sitting there anyways?

    This wouldn’t be an issue if the Ravens managed to avoid monumentally choking every year in the playoffs. If they’d have actually played good football they might have made it past the divisional round.

  41. who cares? this story was over 30 minutes after it started! shut the hell up and move forward ravens!

  42. “but if Chicago fans want to really see what whining is, they need look no further than their own quarterback’

    ============

    Really? It’s July, get over it already. So he wanted to be traded, big deal! Isn’t there a player each week who makes the same request? Would you rather he assault people, rape women, run people over, or be involved in drug rings?

    Or perhaps you’re just jealous because he’s wealthy, gets some attractive strange, and will live a life none of us can fathom living?

  43. dangeralert says: Jul 19, 2011 4:00 PM

    I’m beating a dead horse here, but if Chicago fans want to really see what whining is, they need look no further than their own quarterback.
    ============================

    You’re right. All I need to do is search this site for any article about Jay Cutler and read the comments. I’ll see an ocean of whining by guys like you because the Bears QB is an unpolished gunslinger who managed to take his team further than all but 3 others in the league.

    It’s okay. You can keep whining about how jealous you are because the Bears have a good QB.

  44. i think people whine more about the ravens whining then the ravens and ravens fans actually whine. some ravens fans may whine, heck a lot of ravens fans may whine. i don’t live in baltimore, i live in indianapolis, so i’m not surrounded by a lot of other ravens fans so i wouldn’t know how much they whine. i try not to whine a lot, but i do sometimes. but i do know that colts fans whine a lot too. you should’ve been here when peyton threw 11 picks in 3 games or whatever it was. all fans whine whether it’s about bad calls, bad decisions, being screwed over, or other teams whining about the same things their team whines about. so don’t act like it’s just the ravens and raven’s fans. i find this comment i’m writing kind of funny considering i’m whining about other people whining about the ravens whining. just accept that everyone is going to whine at one point or another and stop whining about their whining and the total level of whining will drop.

  45. oh and whoever the steelers fan who was complaining about the Ravens always whining. James Harrison, that’s all i’m gonna say.

  46. Boohoohoo. If Harbaugh wasn’t such a whiny little girl he would have told the interviewer he’s over it, but obviously he’s not. The draft is like a chess match and the Ravens just got outplayed. I’ll bet they would’ve done the same thing if they were in that position, as they’ve done before.

  47. Didnt the Ravens get the guy they wanted anyways?
    So you get to pay him that much less because you got him a pick later.

    CMON! Are we going to lockout until THIS is ruled on too?

  48. Wait a minute… Aren’t the Ravens the team that screwed a whole city…..? Cleveland. All the Harbaugh’s are acting like little girls…

  49. @Appalace

    He might have been asked about it, but he made up the whole conspiracy theory on his own. He was the one who added the whole new level to the story.

    As for what happened in 2003, I will put on my own aluminum foil hat: The Ravens told the Vikings they had a deal, but never called it into the league. They made up the story about the phone lines being busy with a side deal they made with Jacksonville. The Ravens sat there and laughed their a**es off while 2 teams picked players while the Vikings thought they had a trade. And one of them just happened to be his good friend, according to you.

    Ozzie is a d**k for either not telling the Vikings the trade didn’t go through or pulling off the big scam. Take your pick.

  50. There is no bigger city of whiners than Baltimore – which STILL has fans whining about losing the Colts. As much as they bitch about the Colts showing no class for leaving town right before they were siezed by the MD Governor, Baltimore went out and lured the Browns from Cleveland – with a new stadium that they wouldn’t offer the Colts. Baltimore is the hypocricy capital of the NFL.

  51. As a Bears fan who lives in a Pittsburgh town but works in MD, I can tell you without any sort of bias whatsoever:

    HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

    check out this sorry soul. You live in Pittsburgh, so sorry for that, root for the Bears, so you are a wanna be Chitownian, and have to drive to MD, which is the only place you can make any money.

    and you are on a board complaining about the Ravens and Baltimore.

    Jealous!

  52. Boo freaking hoo.
    AFC Ravens = NFC Cowgirls
    Crying all the time and “never” their fault.
    Players, coaches, owners……….get over it.

  53. @Rockinron2: I’ll pick the facts because the Ravens were trying to trade up for Byron Leftwich who they would have rather taken instead of Terrell Suggs. Why would the Ravens screw the Vikings when it would have cost them the player they coveted?

    The other guy has the lengthy details about that draft posted above but as far as the friendship between Shack and Ozzie, the Jags traded up with the Ravens in 2008 to take a pass rusher and the Ravens took Joe Flacco.

    John Harbaugh didn’t create a conspiracy theory. Jerry Angelo admitted he was wrong.

  54. supashug says:
    Jul 19, 2011 5:24 PM
    As a Bears fan who lives in a Pittsburgh town but works in MD, I can tell you without any sort of bias whatsoever:

    HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

    check out this sorry soul. You live in Pittsburgh, so sorry for that, root for the Bears, so you are a wanna be Chitownian, and have to drive to MD, which is the only place you can make any money.

    and you are on a board complaining about the Ravens and Baltimore.

    Jealous!

    ————————————————
    Thank you for that! I couldn’t have said it better myself. You gotta love these people that can’t get a job in Pittsburgh then come to Baltimore and b*tch and complain about everything. Unfortunetly, I work with plenty of them.

  55. @appalace

    1. Angelo said they made a mistake and the trade didn’t get called in. He never said anything about purposely screwing them over on the trade. He apologized for the mix up.

    2. Ozzie just said he couldn’t get through on the phone to complete the trade. The part about Jax tying up the phone line has never been proven or collaborated by the NFL. How do you tie-up a phone line? Was Jax on the phone to the NFL talking about the weather during the draft? Since both teams have to call in a trade to the NFL, they have to have multiple lines. Was Jacksonville on all of them? Wouldn’t the NFL find it fishy and come out and say something if that was the case?

    3. Ozzie never apologized to Minny for them missing their pick. He never told them the trade didn’t go through, he just watched them miss their pick. The beneficiary of the mix up? Jacksonville getting the pick they wanted. Didn’t cost Ozzie nothing to help out his buddy.

    4. Personally, I don’t think Angelo is smart and slick enough to attempt to pull of what John is claiming. I have seem him get flustered and tongue tied in press conferences many times. He is definitely more often described as incompetent rather than conniving.

    5. I have noticed in life that the people coming up with the conspiracy theories are usually the people that have done clandestine things in the past, so they think everyone does it. Sometimes the simple answer is the truth.

  56. Hey dork-snorkels,
    I said I live in a P-burg town (meaning the majority of people in the town are Steelers fans), not an ACTUAL town INSIDE of Pittsburgh.

    Short of China Town (and maybe Mo-Town?), I don’t know of any other towns that actually exist within a city. Derrr — that doesn’t even make any sense.

    And then, what?, I’d have a FIVE hour commute to work each day (10 hours, both ways), between P-burg and Bodymore, Murdaland?

    Right.

    Geez, when will I learn not have a battle of wits with unarmed men?

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