In defense of Lovie Smith now I am not an attorney but I will take the case of defending Lovie Smith Head Football Coach of The Chicago Bears. I decided to take the case after listening to sports talk radio this afternoon mainly the great J.Hood and I use the word great very loosely when referring to him.
Lovie has been the coach for six years now and has a 51-44 record in regular season games with a .536 winning percentage and his playoff record is 2-2 with a .500 winning percentage and one Super Bowl experience. I know not a great record but respectable for a first time Head Coach and yes I know he is in a division that he can win every year but he needs the weapons to win and this year while he was giving a franchise quarterback he has to make the most out of the minimum especially at wide receiver, defensive back, and offensive line just to name a few positions. Lovie did take the defensive play calling duties and has handled them like a man and no the defensive is nowhere near as good as it should be but he doesn’t tackle, cover, or force a turnover that’s the player’s job. He hasn’t adjusted well in certain games but hasn’t complained or thrown anyone under the bus and somehow has the team fired up to play with nothing on the line.
The general manager who is in charge of putting the right players on the roster is only getting a few stones thrown his way when he traded away draft picks in the first two rounds and has stuck to his theory of searching for hidden gems in the late rounds of the draft which has yielded a few but nowhere the amount needed to get productive play. The Cutler trade while great for speculation has not done a lot for the winning percentage now who you want to blame is up to you but don’t point all the fingers at Lovie he isn’t the offensive coordinator nor was he the one driving the bus on the Cutler bandwagon he is a run oriented coach and prefers to have the run open up the passing game.
I close with this give Lovie one more year see how he deals with adversity after two subpar years and his job in question for most of this year will he find the playmakers needed to help right the ship. So if Lovie goes 14-2 and wins the Super Bowl I won’t crown him but I will be happy he got the chance to show his skills after being in doubt.
So let me hear your thoughts on Lovie or is time for Jerry Angelo or Ron Turner to go. Is this the time for the Bears to hire a big name coach like Cowher, Shanahan, or Gruden now keep in mind Super Bowl winning coaches who took over a new team haven’t fared well for example: Seifert in Carolina, Gibbs back in Washington, Dikta in New Orleans and Vermeil in Kansas City so as they say watch what you wish for because you just might get it and it won’t be as great as you thought it would be.
