The Bulls' First Quarter

Yeah, so remember that nice and shiny quarter I had when talking about how the first 20 or so games had gone for the Blackhawks? Well, the United Center's other resident gets this rusty little coin to accompany my look at their first quarter, an analysis that is best done right now when most Bulls fans are wondering what the hold-up is here in firing Vinny Del Negro.

The season started with a couple of nice surprises, but after starting the year 6-4, the whole campaign now has much the same feel of the momentary joy of Brad Miller's apparent buzzer-beater—a game that was taken from them after the replay confirmed they still needed one more fraction of a second.

Since then, many fans probably would have preferred less time be put on the clock, as the margins of defeat have been getting more obscene and the Bulls have lost four in a row and nine of their last 10 to sit at 7-13. Del Negro's incompetence has been on full display as of late and now the talk is that his young players have already quit on him. The problems continue to mount and this goes beyond just an injuries cop-put when the Bulls are letting opponents tie their shoe while holding the ball or losing to a team with a 1-18 record. Apparently the only people yet to catch on to what a disaster we have on our hands are the people in the Chicago Bulls' front office. I keep waiting for the news to come that Bernie Bickerstaff will be taking over in an interim role now that the team's about to have a six-game homestand, which ESPN's John Hollinger called the "best opportunity of the season."

This team's going nowhere fast under Del Negro. I had them finishing second in the division and fifth in the conference before the season tipped off, but one-fourth of the way through, if the Bulls don't make a change with their head coach, I don't see them making the playoffs this season at all. And the longer Del Negro remains in charge, the more likely I am to come into next season with even lower expectations.

Here is to hoping, however, that the pleasantly surprising Joakim Noah and teammates can make one more writer eat his words.