It’s tradition that football is a team effort until things go poorly. Then it’s the head coach’s fault. But even as the head coach’s head was rolling down the stairs Monday at Halas Hall, Dick Jauron was thanking everyone and blaming no one, classy to the end.

Dignity doesn’t matter in the NFL nearly as much as results do, of course, and Jauron’s five-year regular-season record of 35-45 was enough to get him fired. But that doesn’t begin to explain how general manager Jerry Angelo managed to extract a four-year contract extension for himself.

Angelo’s record as Bears GM is 24-24. If you take away the 13-3 season he had nothing to do with in 2001, the record is 11-21. Angelo did sign Bryan Robinson to a $21 million contract after the 2001 season, and that has been about as palatable as salsa mouthwash.

Kordell Stewart, another of his ideas, hasn’t worked out either.

“Everybody shares some of the blame,” Angelo said, and his words were so flat and empty, they rolled away on their rims.

Angelo will make the final call on the new coach, just as he made the final call on Jauron. The confidence level surrounding Angelo in this town shouldn’t be very high, not after what he has done here as a talent evaluator or what he did before that for Tampa Bay.

The wise choice as the Bears’ next victim is former Giants coach Jim Fassel, who has a brilliant offensive mind (unlike John Shoop) and isn’t afraid to speak his mind (unlike Jauron). He would bring offensive fire and just plain fire to a town that has neither.

Given that the Bears will have to pay Jauron $2.4 million for the final year of his contract, Fassel would be a decent compromise between the coaches who will want megabucks, such as LSU’s Nick Saban, and the list of inexpensive NFL coordinators the Bears historically hire.

Angelo needs to be saved from himself, and lucky for him, we’re here to help. We know what we don’t want in a head coach.

Please, no coordinators without NFL head-coaching experience, no crap shoots on potential. This is not the time for the Bears to find out if Angelo has a knack for discovering a head coach. We need a preponderance of proof here. We’ve seen enough of the hot coordinators, seen enough of Dave Wannstedt and Jauron.

Please, no college coaches. This is a different game. Ask Steve Spurrier.

Please, no Saban, who costs too much and has the personality of a cactus. Ditto Tom Coughlin.

Please, no Marv Levy, a great guy who should enjoy retirement.

Please, no Mike Ditka, who should be enjoying a cigar and a glass of wine, and probably is.

Jauron will be a head coach again, and there’s a reason for it: He can coach. His problem was a fierce loyalty to a guy, Shoop, who was killing him three yards at a time. And his weakness was being slow to make changes.

But where, pray tell, was the chain of command? Where were the people who should have demanded a year or two ago that Jauron make changes?

In the last three years, did anyone talk with Jauron either about changing the offense or the coordinator? It seems obvious now that the Bears’ hierarchy went out of its way to let Jauron hang himself.

“Jerry and Dick talked all the time,” said team president Ted Phillips, who received a four-year contract extension of his own.

Angelo said he went into the season believing the Bears would be a playoff team. If he believed he saw a playoff team in Chicago this season, he must have meant another team visiting Soldier Field.