Normally I start these blogs with a long winded diatribe about how my day has been going, maybe a funny joke or two and some general thoughts about the point of the day’s musings. Any of those would pale in comparison to the fetid wasteland that is Halas Hall today, so I am just going to let RICK MORRISSEY from the Sun Times tell you all about it.

The Raiders. The Oakland Raiders. The Raiders who finished 5-11 last season and had one of the worst offenses in the NFL.

The Raiders who still haven’t announced whether their coach will be back in 2010 for the last year of his contract.

Hue Jackson picked those Raiders over your Chicago Bears. He took the job as Oakland’s offensive coordinator before the outfit in Lake Forest even had a chance to interview him.

How low can the Bears go?

Jackson is a quarterbacks coach who has two one-year stints as an NFL coordinator under his belt and whose background is primarily as a wide receiver and running backs coach.

That’s the guy the Bears wanted to talk with about running their offense and tutoring Jay Cutler.

And that’s the guy who saw a better opportunity in working with Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell.

That’s the JaMarcus Russell who was benched for four of the Raiders’ last seven games and is on the road to Bustville.

Goodness gracious.

Just how far down have the Bears gotten on their list of prospective offensive coordinators? Have they reached out to Lady Gaga yet?

Or how about Seattle Sutton? Drew Peterson? Peter Francis Geraci? The cast of “Jersey Shore’’? Karl Rove and Rahm Emanuel? The Bears should leave no stone unturned.

Jackson, who was the quarterbacks coach for the Ravens, was scheduled to interview Tuesday in Lake Forest but canceled when he took the Oakland job.

The Bears can’t even get to the starting line, folks.

No wonder they said they’d take their time in hiring coordinators. Nobody wants to work here.

Not Jeremy Bates. Not Ken Zampese. Not Rob Chudzinski. That’s correct: They were turned down by a guy nicknamed “Chud.’’

The Bears appear to be blindsided by all of this, which is almost as amazing as losing out to the Raiders on an offensive coordinator. They contended, at least publicly, that coaches would line up for the chance to work inside Halas Hall. Lovie Smith insisted that coordinator candidates wouldn’t care about the specter of a one-year stay in Chicago. They would care about the challenge, he said.

Apparently, a whole lot of coaches aren’t up to the challenge of fixing a weak offense under a suffocating time constraint. Nor do they appear to be excited about the challenge of working for a team with no first- and second-round picks in 2010.

To be beaten out by the Raiders ... is there anything more embarrassing?

No, there really isn’t.  Rick goes on to emphasize the point by noting that Jackson chose to work for Al Davis rather than come to Chicago. That is as big a middle finger as you can flip in the NFL. Of course, they do have the Raiderettes in Oakland, so maybe that played a part in his decision. ELLIOTT HARRIS at the Sun Times seems to insinuate that today.

The Indianapolis Colts have cheerleaders.

The New Orleans Saints have cheerleaders.

The Bears do not.

The Colts and Saints are in Super Bowl XLIV.

The Bears haven’t had cheer-leaders since Super Bowl XX, which they won.

So the logical conclusion (or as logical as it gets around here): The Bears need to restore the Honey Bears to their rightful place in the world—which would be on the sidelines at Soldier Field.

Does that make sense?

‘’We have never won a Super Bowl since they fired the Honey Bears,’’ Emery Moorehead, who played tight end on the Super Bowl champs, told Quick Hits. ‘’That is the most important thing right there. They have an opportunity. They never have put them back. Virginia [McCaskey] said George Halas [her father and the Bears’ original owner] wanted the game the way it was.

‘’It’s entertainment. It’s the whole package: cheerleaders, players on the field. So you need to bring them back.’’

If you think about it (which Quick Hits occasionally does), Papa Bear actually was the one who brought Bears fans the cheerleaders.

‘’Today it’s all about entertainment,’’ Moorehead said. ‘’Bring the Honey Bears back.’’

More important than bringing in an offensive or defensive coordinator?

‘’The coordinator situation is going to be tough this year,’’ he said. ‘’They’re not going to have a quality pick because of the [coach Lovie] Smith situation. That’s going to make it tough for somebody to come in.’’

In case that confused you, allow me to recap. The Bears fired the cheerleaders George Halas hired to maintain George Halas’ wishes. I’m sure that makes sense to someone, just not me. And, to add insult to injury, even former players realize how useless the coaching staff is now and will be in 2010.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote that the Bears could be the first NFL team to enter the season with no coordinators. I meant that to be funny, not prescient.

Our very own, Tom D, has started a thread, so CLICK HERE TO WALLOW IN PATHOS.