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Around SBN: Guest Blogger: Juco All-American Answers Five Questions

It's the Coaching (or Lack Thereof).

In 2006, the Chicago Bears rode the right arm of Rex Grossman (NFC offensive player of the month in September, half (10) of his 20 INT"s in just three games, playing as well as Matt Hasselbeck & Drew Brees in the playoffs) the legs of Devin Hester and an opportunistic defense to the Super Bowl.

Since then?  19-19.  Sorry.  That just doesn't cut it.  By definition a team that reaches the SB is a good/very good/excellent team. There are no 'bad teams' in the SB.  Those kinds of teams UNDERACHIEVE when they go 19-19 immediately afterwards.

By comparison the Steelers are 35-20 after their 2005 SB, the Seahawks 25-29 (they have alos underachieved and have a new HC) and the Colts 31-7 after their 2006 SB.

Mike Nolan was 18-37 as the HC of the 49ers. That's a dreadful record.  Mike Singletary took over that sorry team and is now 8-7 with basically the EXACT same players!

That's right, Mike Singletary is one game OVER 500, while Lovie is just AT 500 (since his SB appearance).  That's Singletary taking over a .327 team and Lovie's record with a team good enough to just be in the SB.

To me, that speaks volumes.

Both teams, right now, are 3-3.

Personnel?  You can debate that all day long.  A couple of quick observations.

A).  No intelligent person would say that, man for man, the 49ers have superior personnel than the Bears.  Most would say just the opposite.

B).  In recent years virtually all talk for 49er fans concerning their offense involved these three players:

Frank Gore:  Stud.

Vernon Davis and Alex Smith:  Massive underachievers or complete busts and total objects of scorn for the fan base there.  Basically, those two were/are HATED in the bay area.

C).  If QB is the most important position on a team, the Bears have had one guy (Kyle Orton) that Josh McDaniels WANTED on his team (and who is playing very well) and another (Jay Cutler) who is considered to be one of the best young QB's in the NFL.

By contrast, Mike Singletary has gone 8-7 with a guy (Shaun Hill) who was undrafted and who most know next to nothing about (and who today was benched for 'massive underachiever' Alex Smith).

Included in Mike Singletary's seven losses were two last season to playoffs teams on the road (Arizona & Miami) where the 49ers had the ball at the end with a chance to win the game.  This season they opened up by winning in the dome in Arizona against the defending NFC Champs and losing two road games (Minnesota & Houston) by a combined six points.

Coaches (either through scheme and/or motivational tactics) are supposed to get the very best out of their players.  That's their NUMBER 1 job.  Help make the players better which should, in turn, help make the team better.

I don't see that happening in Chicago with Lovie Smith in charge.  At all.  There's an OLD saying:  The buck stops here.  It stops at Lovie's desk.  PERIOD!  Sorry.  If you want to be the man in charge then you have to shoulder the respsonsibility when things go wrong.

Mike Shanahan had to do just that in Denver.  His defense there was 28th & 30th in the past two seasons.  McDaniels brings in a new DC and so far they are #1.  Shanahan could have done the exact same thing.  He didn't (and he's gone).

There's also an old saying that a team takes on the personality of it's HC (insert own joke here regarding Lovie).  Samurai Mike's team takes on his 'personality' too.    BIG DIFFERENCE!  (Anyone who ever saw Singletary play or saw him lead his defensive teammates as their 'QB' knows what I mean here).

At the very least in SF, Mike Singletary, through sheer force of will and 'old school' coaching has taken a .327 team (18-37) to above 500 in his short tenure there.

Yes, the players and front office are also to blame in Chicago for this HUMILIATING, DISGRACEFUL, PATHETIC exhibition of football as seen in Cincinnati today.  There's more than enough blame to go around for everyone.

But nobody can tell me that, since the SB in 2006, that the Bears should be a 500 team.  Nobody.  And that responsibility falls mainly on the HC and his staff.

BTW:  Carson Palmer today was 20-24 for 233 yards and FIVE touchdowns.  Phil Simms set a SB record for completition percentage (88%) when he went 22-25 for 268 yards and THREE touchdowns in SB XXI.  Carson Palmer (83%) was in Phil's exclusive neighborhood today.   Few ever get there.

20-24 for 233 & 5 TD's!  That's almost hard to beleive.  I had to do a double take to make sure I was reading it correctly.  Who's the DC?   Who's the HC?  (Oh, nevermind).

The Bear defense led by Lovie Smith made Cedric Benson look like Jim Brown, Carson Palmer look like Joe Montana and #85 look like Jerry Rice.  Congratulations!  However, you're suppose to make OUR players look better . . . not THEIRS!  Maybe Lovie just misunderstood the goal here.

BTW II:  For those that are going to bash me for referencing (once again) my good friend, Mike Singletary, fine.  I get it.  After you bash me, however,  at least find something intelligent to disagree with me here.

 




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Mike Singletary isn't coming to Chicago anytime soon Geo...

The sooner you realize this, the better. Lovie Smith IS NOT Mike Singletary, as you’ve pointed out a trillion times. Lovie Smith is HALF the coach Mike Singletary WILL BE. Lovie Smith DOES NOT have enough fire in him to get the most out of his players like Mike Singletary does. I like you Geo and I usually enjoy reading your posts, even if you do repeat the same thing in most posts, but I’m trying to figure out what this post has to do w/ anything regarding the Bears right now. We ALL see what’s happening on the field, just like you. We all see that the players, coaches, and front office are fucking up royally right now, just like you do. I personally don’t care what’s happening w/ Mike Singletary and the 49ers. Lovie Smith is 50-40 as a head coach. While not great, it’s not horrible either. He led us to a Super Bowl, frankly, I don’t care what he ’RODE" to get there.

The Bear defense led by Lovie Smith made Cedric Benson look like Jim Brown, Carson Palmer look like Joe Montana and #85 look like Jerry Rice. Congratulations! However, you’re suppose to make OUR players look better . . . not THEIRS! Maybe Lovie just misunderstood the goal here.

I’m guessing Singletary misunderstood the same goal when his 5th ranked defense let Matt Ryan throw for a career-high 329 passing yards, and allowed The Burner to gain 97 yards and 3 TD’s on the ground? The Falcons won 45-10 BTW. SomehowLovie Smith and the Bears D held Ryan to 185 yards passing and MT to 30 yards rushing. Hmmm…

I’m not gonna sit here and argue w/ you about anything, but we’ve got Lovie Smith coaching our team RIGHT NOW…. Not Mike Singletary.

"The phone's for you, I think it's the Devil."

by Acreman20 on Oct 25, 2009 11:02 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

"I'm sorry Josh, I'm with Chicago now, you need to stop calling me" -JerBear50 as Jay Cutler
"No offense intended" does not jive with posting in the heat of the moment.

by BearNecessities on Oct 25, 2009 11:19 PM CDT up reply actions   1 recs

HA!

It was more of a play off of what Geo usually does.

"The phone's for you, I think it's the Devil."

by Acreman20 on Oct 25, 2009 11:25 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Just tryin

to get some smiles

"I'm sorry Josh, I'm with Chicago now, you need to stop calling me" -JerBear50 as Jay Cutler
"No offense intended" does not jive with posting in the heat of the moment.

by BearNecessities on Oct 26, 2009 12:56 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Nice

It was good to have a nice laugh after such a horrible day.

by Gesiakob on Oct 26, 2009 12:36 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Of course he's not.

Who said he was?

I’m trying to figure out what this post has to do w/ anything regarding the Bears right now.

(It goes back to my central thesis: This coaching staff is unable to get the best out of these players, either through scheme or motivation).

And yes the 49ers got torched by the Falcons. It was ugly. I watched that game. And as bad as it was, it wasn’t near as bad as the Bears today.

Again, you misunderstand. I wasn’t speaking as if Singletary is ever coming back to Chicago. With the way he feels about this franchise that’s unlikely to ever happen.

I was simply using Mike Singletary as an example of a coach who is getting more out of his players than lovie and his staff.

by GeoMak on Oct 25, 2009 11:51 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Go check out the gameplans ...

… before you go canonizing Singletary, meditate on this. Remember Buddy Ryan’s nickname for Singletary ? “Stupid.” His nickname was …. “stupid”. Not too bright is our Mike. Famously. See the Niners-Vikes game ? Neither did I, but my friend is a Niners fan and he outlined to me how the Niners lost that game. Singletary’s conservatism and stubborn-ness refused to let him adapt to what was going on. Lovie-like. Lovie is too busy with the defense to know what the hell is going on with his team …

by Irish Bears Fan on Oct 26, 2009 2:23 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs


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