7/19/2011 1:24:38 PM | More
Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh called out the Chicago Bears organization over the botched draft-day trade involving the two teams.
"I'm not buying a 'mistake' thing," Harbaugh told "The Waddle & Silvy Show" by way of the Chicago Tribune. "They knew what they were doing."
The Bears told the Ravens they would trade their 29th overall pick and fourth-rounder (127th overall) for the 26th pick in an effort to ensure they landed offensive lineman Gabe Carimi ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs, who had the 27th pick.
The deal fell through at the last minute when the Bears failed to contact the NFL to consummate the deal. The Ravens were livid and demanded compensation, but Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said only that "a mistake was made" and no rules were broken.
"They agreed to (trade) a pick," Harbaugh said. "They got their guy (Carimi) on the phone. They recognized he wasn't getting calls from the team behind them (the Chiefs). And then they basically stalled for over a minute, telling us that they had called the trade in. So that was just not honest.
"They hadn't called the trade in. They said it was a mistake; those guys have been doing this for a long time, c'mon. You communicate back and forth and someone is responsible for calling the trade in, there's no way not to get that done."
"That's not OK. It's not ethical, it's not right," he said. "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."
Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh called out the Chicago Bears organization over the botched draft-day trade involving the two teams.
"I'm not buying a 'mistake' thing," Harbaugh told "The Waddle & Silvy Show" by way of the Chicago Tribune. "They knew what they were doing."
The Bears told the Ravens they would trade their 29th overall pick and fourth-rounder (127th overall) for the 26th pick in an effort to ensure they landed offensive lineman Gabe Carimi ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs, who had the 27th pick.
The deal fell through at the last minute when the Bears failed to contact the NFL to consummate the deal. The Ravens were livid and demanded compensation, but Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said only that "a mistake was made" and no rules were broken.
"They agreed to (trade) a pick," Harbaugh said. "They got their guy (Carimi) on the phone. They recognized he wasn't getting calls from the team behind them (the Chiefs). And then they basically stalled for over a minute, telling us that they had called the trade in. So that was just not honest.
"They hadn't called the trade in. They said it was a mistake; those guys have been doing this for a long time, c'mon. You communicate back and forth and someone is responsible for calling the trade in, there's no way not to get that done."
"That's not OK. It's not ethical, it's not right," he said. "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."
