Let's Be Rational WCG

After Sunday's debacle in Paul Brown Stadium Soldier Field Lambeau Field the Metrodome, Lovie' s seat has gotten a tad hotter, and the call for coaching changes will only get louder as our woeful Bears close out this miserable season. We've all heard the arguments against Lovie's maddening stoicism, but shouldn't we really be focusing on how he handles his responsibilities, not his emotions? Yes a head coach is a leader, but a head coach is supposed to put the right players on the field and the right coaches behind them with the best game plan. Is Lovie meeting those needs for our team?

Responsibilty 1: Coaching Staff
Assistant coaches, offensive and defensive coordinators, and position coaches can all share the blame for the ugly sight we see every week on game day (Dave Toub is exempted). But isn't it Lovie's responsibility to choose his staff?

We're on our 4th D Line coach, 4th secondary coach, and 3rd DC. Our "best offseason acquisition" has produced a much of a pass rush. Promoting BFF Bob Babich didn't improve the defense. Even Lovie's own play calling has been downright terrible at times. Meanwhile, the offense has struggled under the same OC since 2005. Considering that we underachieve and play poorly at virtually every position (ST excluded), I can't help but think that a lot of our coaches aren't doing their jobs particularly well.

Responsibility 2: Personnel Decisions
GM Jerry Angelo's had his fair share of draft misses, and free agent flops, but how involved is Lovie Smith in personnel decisions? We've seen an awful lot of players from the Rams come our way, with little success. I bet the Rams are happy we helped them clear some cap room by taking Pisa and Pace this year. What about Adam Archuletta - remember him?

More importantly, isn't it Lovie who decides who is on the field and who is on the bench? I was so embarrassed when NFL network broke down the Bears (lack of) run game and showed Omiyale whiffing or just blocking no one. He started at LG for another 2-3 weeks. With our current record, roster, lack of draft picks, CBA issues, etc...  we should give DA, Kahlil Bell, Gaines Adams and others more playing time and let Williams finish the season at LT. The focus of the rest of our season should be to assess our most pressing needs for 2010. Lovie has confirmed that he will not do this. So yeah, business as usual. The player that makes the most money at his position will be on the field and stay there, unless that guy is just inexcusably bad. Even then, he might get a pass.

Lastly, is it Lovie's decision or Jerry's to continue to experiment with moving players from position to position? Frank is our RT LG, Daniel is our CB FS, Rashied is our DB WR Special Teams star. At any rate, our talent evaluation and player development are quite lacking, and Lovie Smith is likely a part of the problem.

Responsibility 3: Strategy and Game Play
For the 11th time this season, we've seen a  team that has looked shamefully unprepared. We didn't game plan for the Falcons' "No Huddle," or Cedric Benson running up the field at will, or any number of other things that bit us in the ass this season.

The only time it actually looks like we have a game plan, is when it's painfully obvious that said plan is not working. FYI forcing Minnesota pass last week and leaving Orlando Pace alone on Jared Allen was most certainly not working. And the prevailing ideology seems to be "if at first you don't succeed, fail, fail, again." I can accept some bad decisions, but please do something, anything, to salvage things when the game plan comes up short.

When our ill-prepared Bears are not getting mauled by good teams, we're shooting ourselves in the foot with costly penalties and mistakes against mediocre and bad teams. There are no excuses for WR false starts, holding calls that wipe out big plays, or any number of stupid things this team does frequently; and no excuse for a coach to allow such a lack of discipline.

So "heart" aside, is Lovie Smith a good coach? Has he put the Bears in the best position to win games?  I think not. Disagree? That's what the comments section is for.

P.S. This is my first fanpost. Be gentle...