Lovie Smith Saved by His Players

While many Bears fans were unhappy that coach Lovie Smith was not among the personnel let go by the organization earlier this week, I think the ownership made the right decision.

Letting go of Ron Turner was long overdue. While I’m sure he is a capable offensive coordinator, I don’t think he had a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish with the Bears’ offense, nor did he have the most talented players to work with. It is clearly time to bring on someone else on board who can look at things with a fresh eye.

On the other hand, Smith can thank his players for keeping his job. The players rallied to win the final two games of the season to finish 7-9, and many of them spoke out in his favor in the days leading up to Tuesday’s purge. Sometimes as fans, we are so focused on seeing results on the field that we overlook the importance of the relationship between a coach and his players off of it.

Firing Lovie would have hurt this team more than it would have helped them, especially in terms of morale and rapport. Knowing how much the players respected their head coach was, I’m sure, a key factor in their decision to keep him on board. While I’m sure both Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo were given ultimatums – “win or else” – I predict that both will be part of this team a year from now, and fans will be grateful that Smtih wasn't fired. I expect the Bears to be rejuvenated as a result of some of the changes in the offensive coaching staff, and that should help them perform better overall. Look for the 2010 season to be a big improvement over 2009.

Is There Any Love Left for Lovie?

It may be a matter of days, or even hours, before we all know the fate of Bears’ head coach Lovie Smith. In recent weeks, Smith’s popularity has dropped to an all-time low. He has quickly lost favor with fans over the team’s dismal performance this season, which ended yesterday with a 7-9 record, despite beating the Detroit Lions 37-23. Not exactly what the fans had expected at the start of the season and not after the Bears traded QB Kyle Orton to Denver for Jay Cutler last April

While fans are disappointed, the players continue to support and praise their coach (see this Tribune story). But is that enough to keep Lovie here?

While most folks want and expect a complete overhaul of the coaching staff, I think GM Jerry Angelo will decide to keep Smith for one more season, if anything because it may be more costly to replace him. It will mean another transitional year of learning to adapt to a new coaching style, and I’m not sure Angelo wants to go in that direction – yet.

However, I think other staffing changes will be made, including the firing of offensive coordinator Ron Turner, who hasn’t exactly charmed fans with his offensive ingenuity. I also think several other coaches and assistants will be fired.

Stay tuned. The Lovie watch begins.

Bears Need Lovie

For a team that just appeared in Super Bowl XLI in Miami earlier this month, the Bears have had quite a few coaching changes. That’s highly unusual. QB coach Wade Wilson left to be QB coach in Dallas. Ron Rivera is gone after the team decided not to renew his contract, and linebacker coach Bob Babich replaced Rivera.

Now everyone’s attention is turning to coach Lovie Smith, who will enter the 2007 season in the last year of his contract. He is the lowest-paid head coach in the NFL. With all the other coaching changes, it’s even more critical that the Bears retain Smith as head coach to provide the vision and continuity that the team needs to return to the Super Bowl.

Smith has said he would like to remain the Bears’ head coach for the rest of his career, and the Bears claim they want him too. The fact is, the Bears need Smith more than Smith needs the Bears.

After four seasons under Smith’s leadership, the Bears seem to finally be getting into a groove. I’d like to see that continue if possible. But if the Bears and Smith cannot agree on a deal, it would force the Bears to get used to an entirely new coaching regime all over again.

Bears Say Farewell to Rivera

In a surprising move, the Chicago Bears announced today that they will not renew defensive coordinator Ron Rivera's contract, which expires later this month. It comes as a shock because Rivera has been so successful in creating one of the best defensive teams in the NFL. From all appearances, it did not seem that there were any personality conflicts between Rivera and the Bears' brass.

According to reports, the departure is due to both financial and philosophical reasons. If the Bears renew Coach Lovie Smith's contract at the market rate of nearly $5 million per year, the team could not afford to keep Rivera, who reportedly earns $500,000. If he stayed, the Bears would have to pay signficantly more as defensive coordinators in the NFL are earning $1 million or more. That was probably far more than the Bears were willing to pay.

The feeling is that Coach Smith and Rivera were not on the same page. Smith wants to take the Bears in a different direction defensively, and Rivera did not fit into Smith's big picture. But what is more surprising is the timing of the announcement. Why wait until now to announce your intentions to your defensive coordinator after he has interviewed for several head coaching jobs this winter?

The answer is simple. The Bears were hoping Rivera would be offered a head coaching job, so they would not have to give him the pink slip themselves. So when no job offer came, the Bears had no choice but to let Rivera go. Even if they renewed his contract, it would likely be a short-term deal. Some team somewhere would eventually hire him as a head coach, and the Bears did not want to be left holding the bag, so to speak.

I hate to see Rivera go because he has contributed so much to the Bears. But Lovie has his own ideas of what he wants to accomplish, and all signs point to the Bears promoting linebackers coach, Bob Babich to take over. Somehow I think the Bears will be fine