I think it's more important to have the players respect the coach as opposed to fans, bloggers, journalists, radio hosts, and Bernsteins liking the coach. That being said, he got fired by a new GM, and they won two less games the next year.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

I'd confidently wager against Trestman achieving the same success as Lovie. Nine years with a winning percentage of .560 is very impressive.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/moving_the_chains/Top_NFL_teams_since_2003.html

Plus, 3-3 in the playoffs.

Pardon me if I don't start cranking out hymns about this misunderstood legend.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

I think Emery is doing a great job of putting talent around Trestman. You couldn't say that about Angelo.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Lovie could not coach an offense.
He had poor input on drafts.
He had poor selection of coaches, especially on the offensive side, and specifically losing Rivera was one of his worst offenses but let's not overlook the parade of awful offensive coordinators. Tobin is an obvious exception.
He had awful time management.
He was not particularly gifted at choosing when or what to challenge.
He was way too loyal to certain players who were either not good or past their primes and played them when it was beyond clear they could not cut it.
The Hester WR implementation was one of the worst coaching decisions in NFL history.

Fact is he'd be a great to awesome defensive coordinator. When looking at the above criticisms he made for a mediocre head coach at best.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

How did he managed to overcome all those things? Why did the team fall apart last season despite arguably being the most talented team we've seen in 20 years?

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He overcame those deficiencies based on his talent on one specific side of the ball and the fact that Urlacher is a beast. He had some serious talent around him. In 04 and 09 without him they were mediocre.
The team fell apart last season because urlacher was gone and the rest of the defense was old and bad and Briggs was hurt. Even lovie couldn't have done anything with last seasons bunch.
I'm not saying lovie is a bad guy. But he wasnt a good head coach. Excellent defensive mind. Probably could be one of the best.
But that's all he really did do well.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

When did he "overcome" anything?

The stars completely aligned when they made the Super Bowl. And I would say that was the exception, not the rule.

And frankly it could be argued that he coached himself right out of a super bowl title.
We've had that conversation way too many times though.

But good point.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Nas, was I off base in your opinion on any of those bullet points above?

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Urlacher was gone the year before but they found a way to be a top 10 defense. Also the offense was more talented last year than the defense ever was. These attempts to diminish what he did are bad.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I'm not diminishing when he did. He was a .563 coach with 3 playoff appearances in 9 years and didn't win a Super Bowl with a regularly great defense. What is his great accomplishment that you find me diminishing?

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

He had a mediocre roster just about every season he was here and he was at worst average every year.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

For the record... above I typed Tobin but meant Toub.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

He had a defense of all stars every season.
And he was a draft war room warrior and he had a lot of input on those awful rosters.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

The .563 truly defines him. But he was surely a huge step up from Wannie, and the teams were infinitely more entertaining.

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Soccer 1,2,3
Spanish Honor Society 1,2,3,4
Forensics 1,2,3,4

"Smiles with Nostrils"

"...no Hmong, go find some blacks"

He did not have a defense of all stars every year.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

73 challenges 27 won 46 lost.
LEGACY!

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Oh. And here I thought he had the greatest linebacker and some of the best corners and linemen all this time.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

DS I'll give you most of those criticisms, especially on offense. However it is not fair to diminish his coaching because of the "stars" on defense. It's not fair because coaches can either put stars in a position to succeed in a way that also helps the overall team, or they can fail to take advantage of a star's talents, as often does happen. He recognized the talents in each great player he had (not as many as being suggested in this thread) on defense and optimized their skills accordingly. Because of that recognition on his part, the Bears enjoyed some good to great defensive seasons.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Perhaps I'm not being as clear as I should be.
I'm saying lovie is a great defensive coach. He optimized every ounce of potential his stars had while simultaneously fucking up huge with certain players that I won't get into that had no business on the roster.
I think he was an exceptional defensive coach and an overall mediocre head coach.
That's all.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

got you 100%. one thing however - we sort of know all players who probably should have not been starting, but tell me: who would you have played? What bench player was waiting in the wings only to never get a chance because Lovie stubbornly stuck to his guys? I don't think there's a single case of that happening. It's a personnel (i.e. Angelo mostly, and maybe some Lovie depending on his input) problem.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

He had 1 clear cut HoF player. That isn't an all star team. In fact I would argue that the offense had more talent last season than Lovie ever had on defense and the team lost 2 more games than they did the year before.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Nitpick, but Lovie had very little and sometimes no influence on draft picks. It was a huge point of contention for the coaching staff.

He maximized the the talent every year. Despite having a mediocre roster you knew that the Bears would compete every season.

_________________
Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I'd wager that guys complaining about Lovie sticking to incompetent players for too long cannot name a player who should have played instead. And I can't either - not because I believed in whatever guy was starting at the time, but because the Bears rarely had any depth. It's a personnel issue that's somehow become Lovie's fault. How many players have left the Bears and gone on to enjoy good careers elsewhere?

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

That's a great point. Only Olsen and Colombo. Colombo was hurt the entire time and Olsen was traded so Cutler would try to throw the ball to other receivers.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Your bar is set too low. Nine years with 5 winning seasons & 3 playoff appearances...& just 1 in the last 6 years, is average, not impressive.

I have higher expectations than that.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan