The data collection is not exactly like former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's "binders full of women." But it's similar.

The National Football League last year started gathering information about potential general managers and coaches — their histories, biographies and career statistics — to distribute to teams that could use deeper guidance on hiring decisions. As The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, the committee spearheading the effort, the Career Development Advisory Panel, is a resume-mining committee with one goal: Help teams avoid embarrassing hiring disasters.

The upshot: The NFL knows its teams make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. Over the last decade the average head coach has lasted just 2.93 years, the Journal noted.

You'd think that with all the history and expertise in the NFL, the teams wouldn't need a committee to collect binders-full-of-coaches for them. The teams wouldn't need another talent scout. But the committee's work is underway — an NFL "suggestion box," if you will, that is largely kept under wraps except to teams that request a copy.

My oh my. As baseball man Casey Stengel once said, can't anybody here play this game? It sure doesn't seem so.

The Chicago Bears could be Exhibit A on why the NFL formed the committee to offer talent suggestions. The gang at Halas Hall — namely general manager Phil Emery, who was fired Monday — whiffed big time on the pairing of head coach Marc Trestman, who was also let go, and petulant quarterback Jay Cutler, who will stay. Offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer also got his walking papers. (Who's rooting for Mel Tucker to be next?)

The team's pathetic 5-11 season ended in a flutter of pink slips Monday morning, known as Black Monday in the NFL.

Black Monday also struck New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik. The Atlanta Falcons fired head coach Mike Smith, and the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday parted with Jim Harbaugh.

Maybe some binders full of talent from the NFL advisory panel will come in handy after all.

The eight-person committee is devoted to "expanding the candidate pool," the Journal reported. "Hiring is an enormous responsibility. Suddenly there's a lot more attached to a coach and GM than there used to be," said Green Bay Packers executive Ron Wolf, who serves on the committee.

Right, though it helps any coach or GM to be attached to Aaron Rodgers.

Two years ago, lots of people had hope for Emery's pairing of Trestman ("the quarterback whisperer") and Cutler (the ... quarterback.)

But the Bears 5-11 record this year proved this was a mistake. Lousy defense, AWOL offense. Two losses to the Packers by a combined 93-31?

So what do the Bears do now?

Go for the binders.

When Romney was asked about the diversity in his Cabinet when he was governor of Massachusetts, he said he reached out to women's groups to suggest job candidates and by gosh those groups sent him "binders full of women" from which to hire.

It sounded stupid ... but methodical.

The Bears could do worse than sign up for help from the NFL committee.

In the meantime, the 94-year-old team is on its way to living up to another great line from Casey Stengel:

"Been in this game 100 years, but I see new ways to lose 'em I never knew existed before."

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