Bye Week Musing: Could Smith & JA Lose the Locker Room?

Right off the bat I will admit that this article is both a) entirely speculative and b) very far-fetched. In fact, I probably shouldn't write it considering how much flack I got for my Monday post but you know, I don't really care and I have been racking my brain to come up with an idea to write about today and this is what I got.

Anyway, with the release of Chris Harris and the handling of the Kreutz situation before the season, is it possible we see a turn in the team dynamic down the stretch? I doubt it, but I think it's worth thinking about:

I thought Jon Greenburg's article in the Den this morning did a rather good job of looking at this situation as well. Definitely worth a read.

The moves I mentioned both seemed to be rather unpopular in the locker room, two guys who have been with the team a long time, good leaders and guys who help out the young guys at the positions they play, which also happen to be two of the weaker positions on the team.

Now there were some whispers earlier this season that Lovie Smith isn't totally thrilled about the amount of tweeting some of the players do. Did they play a role in the Harris release? Doubt it, but the littlest things can play into a locker room dynamic.

Just like an office or any other workplace, morale can fall over the littlest things; your peers being laid off, your boss nit-picking over things that have been covered before, etc.

Then you throw in the Forte situation. Players have not been shy about saying "PAY THE MAN" whether it be on the aforementioned social media or be it on TV. I saw Lance Briggs on a CSN show earlier this season saying "Pay the man!" in reference to Forte.

I would think that things like that irk the front office of a seemingly tight-lipped, stay-out-of-the-spotlight organization like the Bears. Seeing your players campaigning for a teammate could rub them the wrong way.

So now you have three front office situations where players may be saying "Does this team care about me at all? Look what they did to Kreutz and Harris and what they're doing to Forte." It could become a problem.

Unless....

We keep winning. Winning cures all and suffice it to say that it seems these issues could fade away easily if we come back after the bye and continue to build on our two game winning streak.

Do I think these things will be a problem? No, I don't actually, but I think it's interesting to think about what could happen if the team stumbles again. Could the players turn on Lovie and Co.? Or do the players just brush it off like "It's a business, there is no loyalty." But I would think players want to see a little bit of loyalty.

Honestly, if this team struggles and finishes out of the playoffs AND below 10-6, we need to clean out Lovie and JA. Again, I don't think it will happen, but it's fun to think about it.