Brian Billick always figured Mike Tice had the tools to be a successful offensive coordinator.

During their days with the Vikings — when Tice was the line coach and Billick the offensive coordinator — Billick recalled how Tice often offered his opinion on the play-calling.

"It was a knockdown, drag out, dog cussing, (expletive) all week long," Billick said. "He has some size to him, and so do I. He's a lot tougher than me, but I was a lot smarter.

"Seriously, Mike was just magnificent with attention to detail. If I wanted to do something and just in a dismissive way said, 'No, this will be OK, (the opponent) doesn't do that much,' I knew the next day on my desk was going to sit 10, 12 tapes of 'This is why you're going to get it shoved up your rear end.'"

Now that Tice is set to call plays in Chicago, the Bears hope to run the ball down the opposition's throat.

Coach Lovie Smith made a seemingly natural choice in promoting Tice from offensive line coach to offensive coordinator Friday to replace Mike Martz. It will be Tice's first time as a coordinator, though he was the Vikings head coach from 2002-05. After last season, deposed general manager Jerry Angelo denied him permission to interview for the same position with the Titans.

"Lovie and I share a similar mindset of what the Bears offense should look and feel like," Tice said in a statement. "There will be a toughness about us. We are going to be a powerful run team and we're going to be able to mix in explosive pass plays."

Tice will get a little help to ease the transition. The Bears plan to hire a quarterbacks coach capable of coordinating the passing game as Tice continues to work with the offensive line, although the Bears will bring in a new offensive line coach as well.

As quarterbacks coach, Tice would prefer to add Dirk Koetter, the Jaguars' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach this season. Tice and Koetter previously worked on the same Jaguars staff, but Koetter is expected to wait for another offensive coordinator opportunity because the Jaguars have yet to secure a new head coach.

Other candidates the Bears are expected to explore include one-time Bears quarterbacks coach Greg Olson, University of Miami offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch, former Seahawks offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates and former Buccaneers quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt. Bates and Fisch worked with Jay Cutler with the Broncos; Fisch is expected to be high on the Bears' list.

As for Tice, his offensive system is sure to incorporate the model he established alongside Billick in Minnesota, when the Vikings ranked No. 1 in scoring offense in 1998 behind a balanced offense with quarterback Randall Cunningham, running back Robert Smith and big-play receiver Randy Moss. The Bears have two parts of that combination in Cutler and Matt Forte, and Tice admitted a big-play receiver is on the radar.

Cutler will be able to audible in Tice's system, which he wasn't allowed to do under Martz, and the playbook won't be nearly as difficult to digest as it has been.

"I've done a number of (Martz's) games and Mike would go in with 300 plays," said Billick, who won the Super Bowl coaching the Ravens and is now a TV analyst. "I don't how you teach all that. My guess is Mike Tice will consolidate that a little bit.

"The average NFL game has 65 plays, so we tried to keep it to about 100 to 110 plays. Then you make sure what you're practicing shows up in games, making things a bit more straight-forward for your players."

The Bears couldn't have promoted a more straight-forward guy.
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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Tarvaris Jackson had all day to throw, which meant Ricardo Lockette had all day to run, and we're starting to find out that when Lockette is running, amazing things can happen.

Down 20-13 in the middle of the fourth quarter, Lockette streaked down the left sideline, gaining speed with every stride. He fought off cornerback Marshay Green with his right hand and somehow was able to keep his concentration and catch Jackson's bomb in stride for a 61-yard game-tying touchdown.

It was a truly remarkable play in the Seahawks' unremarkable 23-20 season-ending overtime loss to Arizona. But more important, it just might have been the harbinger of many touchdown explosions to come from the free-agent rookie from Division II Fort Valley (Ga.) State.

"When T-Jack threw it, he (Lockette) was kind of cruising, but he kicked it into that sixth or seventh gear," Seahawks safety Earl Thomas said. "I don't know many guys in this league that have a seventh gear, but I know you can't coach that. If you ain't got that sixth or seventh gear, you're not going to cover him."

Jackson said that when Lockette arrived in camp last summer, he was like Forrest Gump. He just ran. But from his first day in Renton, Lockette was making jaw-dropping catches and running away from cornerbacks.

He ran the 100 meters in 10 flat and the 200 in 20.34. He won a D-II championship in the 200. But Lockette was raw as sushi, a practice-squad guy you reminded yourself to pay attention to in the months ahead.

"We have these highlight films, the good plays from the previous day's practice," Hawks second-year receiver Golden Tate said. "He makes the highlight film every day.

"He has a very, very, very bright future. The kid can fly. He's strong. He's just one of those people that I'm sure I'll never, ever forget. I'm excited to see him grow. Once it comes together for him, he can be a dominant receiver."

Give him a year in the system and a lockout-free winter, spring and early summer to study the game, and who knows what he could become.

The Hawks need a receiver to play opposite Sidney Rice. Why not a 6-foot-2 guy with 4.2 speed? Why not a random free agent who looks as if he belongs?

"I've been on the other side of the ball against him and I was kind of taking him for granted and he came upside of my head and made a big catch," Thomas said. "Look out for him in the future."

A season on the practice squad, even for the greenest of rookies, isn't easy. A practice player is a part of the team, but apart from the team. There are no Sunday rewards. The practice squad is like Triple-A baseball without the games. It's all about hard work and good study habits.

"When I first got here, I was like, 'Do I belong here?' " Lockette said. "But I built up my confidence in practice. It's been a grind, but it's also a blessing just to be on a practice squad and be part of the NFL."

From September to late December, Lockette never saw the field. His game days were Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

"I can imagine it was frustrating for him," Tate said. "But he showed up for work every day with a positive attitude. And his chance eventually came and he did a great job of handling it. When I walk away from the 2011 season, one of the things I'm going to remember is Ricardo Lockette and how he dealt with it when his chance came."

Lockette originally committed to play for Auburn but had problems qualifying and went to the school that was the alma mater for both of his parents. The Seahawks' front office, which has an explorer's ability to unearth unknown talents, signed Lockette after the lockout.

He made his first appearance on Christmas Eve against San Francisco and caught a 44-yard pass early in the game. He finished this first NFL cameo season with two catches and a gaudy 52.5 yards-per-catch average.

"From where he came from, it's a thousand miles from the limited amount of football background that he brought to us," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "We saw the talent right off the bat. It doesn't take long to see what he had.

"But he just doesn't understand the game. And he's learning. He's got a long ways to go. But he's got the potential to be a great football player some day. He's got great big-play ability. We've just got to give him chances to grow."

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RENTON — Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch responded to the question about his future, but he didn't really answer it.

Not definitively, anyway.

"Everything will fall into place how it's going to fall into place," he said. "There's not much I can do but wait."

Lynch is one of more than 20 Seahawks whose contract is expiring, and his answer perfectly summarized the final day of this team's 2011 season. It acknowledged the uncertainty of the future, and stated there will be a resolution without predicting what that resolution will be.

"Hopefully I can get taken care of where I'm at," Lynch said.

Welcome to the limbo that follows every NFL season as players who spend four months trying not to look beyond the next game look up into the great unknown with the best of intentions, but not much in the way of answers.

There is uncertainty for Seattle, as there is for every team. For the Seahawks this year, the main question isn't just who will be added to the roster, but who they will be able to keep.

Lynch is atop that list, but he's hardly the only one. Defensive end Red Bryant is up there. So are linebackers David Hawthorne and Leroy Hill, and fullback Michael Robinson, a Pro Bowl alternate this season.

There are 18 Seahawks currently scheduled to be unrestricted free agents. Seven of those players started in the regular-season finale Sunday at Arizona.

That uncertainty was the elephant in Seattle's locker room Monday. Players cleaned out lockers, exchanged jerseys and signed autographs for each other. The optimism this team created over the second half of the season was mixed with the finality that the season is over and the future uncertain.

"It's a lot of emotion," Bryant said. "This is the last day in terms of my contract. I'd be lying to say I'm not thinking about it.

"I know this football team is headed in the right direction, and you would love to continue to be a part of what I feel like is going to be a championship team in the future."

Bryant was a fourth-round choice in 2008 who blossomed into a cornerstone of Seattle's defense when he was moved from tackle to end under coach Pete Carroll. Does he expect to be back?

"I would hope so," Bryant said. "But you know this is a business, and tough decisions have to be made. I hope the decision to keep me is high, but I also understand that's just the nature of the business."

That was just one voice in a chorus of free agents who hope to return.

"I'd love to," Hawthorne said. "Me and my agent are doing everything I can to get back."

Good intentions, though, don't change the reality.

"This is the only organization I know," Hill said. "I'd love to be here, but we'll see what happens."

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