NightLink: Where Does Lovie Rank?
by Dane Noble on Jun 8, 2009 6:13 PM CDT
31 comments
Over the last couple of weeks, we have looked at a few different sets of rankings, some for players, and some for coaches. Last week, we saw where Ron Turner and Bob Babich ranked (or didn't rank) among coordinators in the NFL. Now, down to the nitty-gritty. Before you click the jump, where do you think Lovie Smith would rank among all NFL Head Coaches?
Try to be objective, and give it some thought for a moment. And to help out, I'll post this list of all HCs in the NFL right now. Give it a look, and see what you think.
Sporting News' rankings after the jump.
Lovie Smith ranks in at #20.
20. Lovie Smith, Bears. A Tony Dungy disciple, Smith is the picture of stoicism. He is one of the first generation Tampa-2 guys on defense, and his group will be much better this season now that he is reunited with line coach Rod Marinelli. Smith's new quarterback, Jay Cutler, will make him and his team better.
That means, only 12 HCs are worse than Smith. I could really spend some time ripping this to shreds, but I found that David Haugh is already all over it, and said exactly what I was thinking.
I know many of you are big supporters of Lovie Smith, and many of you aren't. What do you think about this #20 ranking?
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I really don't like Lovie Smith as a head coach but
there is no way he should be ranked behind Childress, Jauron, Norv Turner, Sean Payton, and Wade Phillips. That’s not an endorsement of Smith but what have these guys done to merit being placed ahead of him? Who’s next, Wanny? Smith has his faults, and in my opinion, is not the leader you need to win championships, but if Cutler becomes the QB we all hope for and Marinelli can get the D-line back to what it should be, then we make the playoffs, we have to let him play it out. If the opposite happens, he and his whole crew need to be launced, but that still doesn’t mean those other guys are better.
by BearFan611 on Jun 8, 2009 6:33 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Ridiculous
He says Lovie is the “picture of stoicism”…that translates to coaching how exactly? Putting Jauron and Mora in front of Lovie is insulting considering he replaced Jauron and Mora wasn’t even a head coach last season.
On a side note, I would have put John Fox at 6.
Rumor has it Alex Brown keeps Chris Simms' right index finger in his back pocket for good luck.
by HanelucaTC on Jun 8, 2009 6:46 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Childress???
Seriously?
He only has 1 playoff berth!!!
by CutlerDabears on Jun 8, 2009 6:54 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Beating dead horses doesn't make make for good coaches.
Grossman was one dead horse.
by Black Sox Baseball on Jun 8, 2009 7:25 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
This ranking was a joke
2 Division Titles and a Super Bowl in 5 seasons is better than most.
Kick it to me... I'm open!
by #23 on Jun 8, 2009 7:33 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
The Most Telling to Me is
Smith got a 9-7 season from a 7-9 roster. That is a fact. And he has done that twice because you could argue in 2005 we should have done a lot worse than 11-5 with a rookie QB. Smith is a good coach, his record proves it and he should be way higher than 20.
by GallopingGhost on Jun 8, 2009 7:52 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Cut with the ranking crap!
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain
by phastphil on Jun 8, 2009 8:07 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
We haven't posted any rankings since the 3rd.
It’s the offseason, and all of us are trying hard to keep the site plugged with fresh content. On slow news days, and when we don’t have time to grind out original posts, you can expect posts like these.
Also, we have great members who can crank out some really good FanPosts. Just today, Sklz711 had one promoted to the front page. The point is, it’s gonna happen… but with an outstanding community of bloggers around us, we will always have something up for you to read or debate.
You’ve been a member here for a good long while now, and I see that you haven’t utilized the FanPost feature yet. Wanna give it a try?
Be nice. Flag comments that you think are offensive. Use the "reply" button. Drink plenty of water. Compliment others. "Rec" comments and posts you like. Don't call people names. If you don't like someone's comment, attack the comment and not the commentor. Learn the difference in your/you're, then/than, to/too. Exercise. Relax. Stretch often. Find good in the world.
by Dane Noble on Jun 8, 2009 8:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'd rather see no posts then
Rankings are total Bullshit!
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain
by phastphil on Jun 8, 2009 11:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
That's what you want or don't want.
You don’t like what you see don’t try to have it taken away from everyone else, contribute or keep you crap for an opinion to yourself. The guys here work hard to put something out there everyday. Then you pop up out of nowhere and start bitching about it. Don’t be that guy.
Because as far as we're concerned, there is still no team in the history of the NFL that could beat the '85 Bears.
by Ditkavsworld on Jun 9, 2009 8:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sheesh - My critique is not meant to be personal
I just happen to view “rankings” right up there with when I turn on ESPN or the NFL Network they’re either discussing Brett Farve’s retirement or TO.
Like I said – Don’t take criticism personal – it will drive your crazy. Overall I think you guys do great job. Thank You!
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain
by phastphil on Jun 9, 2009 10:14 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don't take it personal.
I just don’t want the guys to feel like their efforts are for not. Maybe I’m just selfish, if not for this website I’d actually be doing work right now.
Because as far as we're concerned, there is still no team in the history of the NFL that could beat the '85 Bears.
by Ditkavsworld on Jun 9, 2009 10:21 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Norv Turner?????????????!!!!!!!!!!1
I have never seen an NFL coach do less with more. Honestly, the Chargers have been absolutely loaded the past two years, but San Diego has gone 19-13 under Turner. Sean Payton at no. 6. What have the Saints done recently? Jim Mora? The guy absolutely flopped in Atlanta. And all the new HCs simply have not done enough to merit such high spots: Harbaugh, Sparano, Tomlin, Whisenhunt may all be one-year wonders. Lovie has an above .500 record (45-35) despite having Rex Grossman, Jonathan Quinn, Craig Krenzel, Chad Hutchinson, Kyle Orton, and Brian Griese start at QB. And he’s in the bottom half???
by Poloplaya14 on Jun 8, 2009 8:44 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Couldn't agree more about underachieving Turner
I live in Iowa. Home to equal amounts of Packer/Viking/Ram and Chief fans in addition to Bear fans. Over half my viking fan “friends” (they’re not ALL moronic child molesters) think Childress is a complete joke. The guy has a very solid defense, a GREAT running game and can barely manage to make the playoffs but he ranks 11th!!!! WTF kind of alternative universe are the morons at Sporting News living in anyway?? Lovie should at least be deserving of being ranked ahead of CHILDRESS!!!
"The cup is not half empty and neither is the cup half full. The cup's just too damn big." -George Carlton
by Just Dave on Jun 8, 2009 9:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
???
half my viking fan "friends" (they’re not ALL moronic child molesters)
Umm, so only some of your friends are child molesters?
"Well, we didn't block real good but we made up for it by not tackling."
- John McKay
by JerBear50 on Jun 9, 2009 1:48 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Not that I know of.
I was referring to viking fans in general and perhaps child molesters is a bit harsh, let’s go with “Inane piles of pig vomit”. Very few of my friends meet that criteria.
"The cup is not half empty and neither is the cup half full. The cup's just too damn big." -George Carlton
by Just Dave on Jun 9, 2009 11:28 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Last time I checked...
Lovie beat Sean Payton 3 times in 3 seasons. Payton is #6 on this horrid list.
by gocubs40 on Jun 9, 2009 3:34 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Actually 4 times
if you count the drubbing in the NFC championship game in ’06.
"I'm not so mean. I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something." - Dick Butkus
"Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack." - Sun Tzu
by propheteer on Jun 9, 2009 11:39 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
No Ditka on the list?
Just kidding. :)
Lovie is much better than his 20th ranking. They really have no reason to put those one year wonders ahead of Lovie. So the guy can’t speak, he’s won some games and has had some sucess. If he doesn’t do more with his brand new franchise QB then maybe he needs to find a new hobby.
Because as far as we're concerned, there is still no team in the history of the NFL that could beat the '85 Bears.
by Ditkavsworld on Jun 9, 2009 8:53 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
It's because he's black isn't it!?!?
Think With Your Dipstick Jimmy!
by ifuwannacrownem on Jun 9, 2009 9:13 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Ludicrous ranking
to have coaches ahead of him that haven’t won a single playoff game, or coaches who have a ton more talent than Lovie has had. Philips, Mora, Jauron, Del Rio, Singletary, McCarthy should all be behind Lovie; I mean what exactly did they do with their teams last year? Not one of them made the playoffs (Mora not even a coach!), and Lovie was the only one besides Philips to guide their team to a winning record.
"I'm not so mean. I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something." - Dick Butkus
"Invincibility lies in the defence; the possibility of victory in the attack." - Sun Tzu
by propheteer on Jun 9, 2009 11:47 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Larry Mayer's response
I usually don’t like Larry Mayer but this is good:
I agree with you that ranking Lovie Smith as the 20th best NFL head coach is utterly ridiculous. I think The Sporting News is just trying to stir the pot and get people to write and talk about their rankings. I hesitated to even address the situation because I didn’t want to give such a ridiculous poll more publicity, but I decided to do so in this forum. David Haugh wrote an interesting article about the poll in the Chicago Tribune. Noting that NFL scouts ranked the Vikings’ Brad Childress as the league’s 11th best coach, Haugh asked, "Were these scouts polled in a deer stand in Duluth?" There shouldn’t be a doubt in anyone’s mind that Lovie Smith is among the NFL’s 10 best coaches. He has compiled a 47-37 record with two division titles and one conference championship in five seasons. Under his direction, the Bears have won 40 games the past four seasons. That’s more victories in that span than any other NFC team except the New York Giants, who have 41. I could go on and on, but all you need to know is that the Saints’ Sean Payton is ranked No. 6. Payton has compiled a 26-24 mark in three seasons with just one playoff appearance. By the way, Smith is 3-0 head-to-head against Payton, including a 39-14 win in the 2006 NFC title game.
by brands735 on Jun 9, 2009 12:36 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Another pointless ranking
Seriously, who gives a rat’s ass where some “experts” rank the Bear head coach. My personal view is that Lovie Smith is a solid football coach. And like most head coaches he gets too unfairly ripped for the shortcomings of this team. You are a product of the personnel you have to work with in the NFL. More good football players equal more good success. Not a particularly enlightening statement now is it.
Lovie is an asset to the Bears. I wish he would be less stubborn with the principles of his Tampa-2 defense however.
You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little messed up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?
by BLou on Jun 9, 2009 2:38 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
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