The Bears Den: December 24th, 2010 Edition

any Head Coach would have the Bears at 10-4 right now

Also, I’m not “wrong” just because I have a different opinion than you do. This is the first year he’s done anything in 4 years, that’s what matters. This has been a down year for the NFC North which has helped the Bears out but, as I said, that’s the luck of the draw and they shouldn’t have to apologize for that but don’t make it sound like he won the title against a healthy Packer team or a healthy Vikings team.

You also refuse to recognize the role Lovie has played in the personnel decisions since he signed his last extension both with players and coaches. I also would like to know how you have this insider information about Bear management and their relationship with Turner.

Bottom line is you want to give Lovie credit for everything positive and never blame him for any of the team’s shortcomings over the last 7 years. I, admittedly, don’t like him as a HC but at least I can be objective enough to say let him finish his contract and, if he does well next year too (assuming they don’t lose the next 2 and then get blown out in their 1st playoff game), then talk about an extension. You, on the other hand, want to reward him for one good season out of the last 4 without even finishing that season out.

To me, that is being unreasonable.

He was a D-line coach when Lovie took over.

The 2008 Dolphins would like to have a word with you.

After going 1-15 under Cam Cameron, they made the change to Sparano, went 11-5, and were in the playoffs.

I’m firmly in the camp of run out his contract, but you can’t just say “history proves it” I just used history to disprove it. It’s simply too situational to put a blanket statement on it.

Wannstedt was third in wins. Lovie is now third in wins.

Now if you want to talk win percentage, then look at the names you just listed and tell me that you would be crowing about replacing them.

Look, Smith hasn’t been horrible. He’s been mediocre. Average isn’t bad. But it isn’t great, either. This year has been a step in the right direction, and that is why I am comfortable letting him complete his contract so that we can see if the improvement is for real and if it is, then re-sign him. If you had talked to me before the season, I would have said to boot him now. But one playoff trip in 4 seasons, and 2 in his first 6 is not what I want for Chicago. I love this team and I don’t think it’s to much to expect ownership to accept nothing less than greatness.

I noticed you didn’t respond to how I answered your question about Fisher.

yes, he has been lucky, but my comment of “the luck of the draw” and “not be penalized” refers to the fact that any team/coach who wins any title has some luck along the way. You just want to try and force your opinion on me, which is never going to happen.

You try to put words in my mouth, like “Lovie is just lucky this year”, another thing you write as if I said it. Check the thread, I never said it and even credited him for this year.

Let’s agree to disagree about Lovie because I’m tired of arguing with someone who refuses to have any objectivity at all.

And it’s not just Lovie who’s been mediocre as a coach. It’s the combination of Lovie and Jerry that is the problem. Think of it this way: Yes, we’re in the playoffs and that’s great, but imagine how much better we’d be if this dynamic duo hadn’t neglected our offensive line for the past 4 years. How much better would our offense be if Cutler had protection and Forte had some lanes to run in? Do you think maybe we’d have a shot at the # 1 seed in the NFC? Right now, we’ve got to run the table just to get the #2 seed, and a first round bye. I don’t know about you, but I’m not really satisfied with just making the playoffs – especially given the fact that this is the second-largest market in the NFL, and the Bears have it all to themselves. Quite frankly, we should be a playoff contender just about every year – not just 3 times in 7 years.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that we made the playoffs this year. But let’s not get too crazy and throw Lovie a 5 year extension, when we don’t really know if he’s actually righted the ship long term, or if things just happened to fall in place for him this year.

Lovie was the benificiary of basically 6 things this year:

1) Peppers getting lured here by a ridiculous $90 million dollar deal.
2) The team experiencing almost no major injuries.
3) An amazing resurgence by Urlacher, who seems to have come back much stronger after having essentially all of last year off
4) The Vikings completely packed it in this year – and Favre finally started to show his age.
5) The Packers have been completely devastated by injuries – and yet I’m still not feeling very confident about going to Lambeau for the season finale.
6) The now infamous “Calvin Johnson call.”

Whether or not we extend Lovie, he was incredibly fortunate this year. Unless the team goes back to the playoffs next year, I’m not ready to pat Lovie on the back for a job well done – after 3 years of sub-par production. I’m just not sold, yet. He needs to fix the offensive line and bring the offense up to the same level as the defense, before I’m jumping on the “Lovie bandwagon.”

And to all, Lovie Lovers and Lovie Haters alike!

Every season has context. Did you use the same excuses for Dick Jauron? His failures had context, too. as did Dave Wannstedt’s.

Now, if you’ll notice, he made a serious mistake after the Super Loss. He cut Ron Rivera loose. From that point on, both he and Bob Babich ran the defense into the ground. That led to the 6th worst defensive effort in Chicago history (that means only 84 seasons in Chicago were better, soon to be 85)

Have his teams ever underachieved? Did you see the last three years? Let’s start with ‘07. Same team. Same players. No Rivera. 6 fewer wins. I’d call that underachieving, unless you call ’06 an over-achievement? ’08? Had a chance to make the playoffs and threw it away against Houston. Yep. I call that underacheiving. Last season they bring in Jay Cutler and win two fewer games. Underachievement? Yep.

Is Smith a bad coach? No. But I think he’s mediocre. Just average. Is it too much to ask for a great coach in Chicago? Now, prior to this season, his two winning-est teams were ‘05 and ’06. The exceptional talent on those teams were not developed by Smith. They were guys Jauron brought in or were developed elsewhere. Urlacher, Briggs, Tillman, Scott, Alex Brown, Mike Brown, Adewale Ogunleye. Now Tommie Harris, Tank Johnson, Mark Anderson and Nate Vasher were Smith’s, but then, they were also the guys that never developed or just dropped off entirely.

You wanted to talk about the context of the three season since? Smith failed to motivate the Super Bowl losers, which is more common than not, so I wouldn’t beat him up about it. But I think there was far more than that to the defensive collapse that happened over the next three years. Rivera was gone. Defensive players stopped developing. Mark Anderson, Tommie Harris and Nate Vasher, who were the exciting up and comers, stopped developing. In fact the entire defense with the exception of maybe Lance Briggs, not only stagnated, but regressed with the departure of Rivera. It wasn’t until Marinelli took over the DC duties that actual defensive development started to appear again. And look now, the Bears have won the division again. So the idea that Smith does a poor job of development, and yet his team underachieve are not contradictory. This team has had the talent to be a top 5 defense year in and year out. Yet with Lovie and Puppet Bob as DC, the team sat in the bottom half of the league for three years, culminating in the ’08 debacle that allowed the 6th worst points against total in Bears history.

I think he’s been lucky this season. Marinelli saved his Bacon. But I do see some improvements, as well. And I wonder how much having 3 other former head coaches on the team has helped Smith, himself, to develop.

But my big question is “what is the advantage of signing Smith to a contract extension with a year left on his contract?” How many of the past 4 seasons have you been happy with? I can honestly say just this one. Why not wait a year, since he’s still under contract, and see if he performs well. If he does, extend him. If not, then it’s time for the Bears to move on. Signing him now, just to have him continue the general trend of missing the playoffs would feel very foolish when the Bears ended up paying two coaches. But if the FO waits until next season to determine if they want to bring back Smith, they have the opportunity to see if this season was an anomaly or signs of Smith developing.

Why jump when you don’t have to?