Doc, Baker won a bunch of games his first year with the cubs as well, won a lot of ball games. That doesn't make him a good manager. I firmly believe that this team won games, especially this year, in spite of the coaching.

Lovie's had 3 different good years. He's a "good" coach. His philosophy creates the opportunity for "good" seasons. Other teams will make mistakes. This year is a good example of them not having great talent and staying in close games. The other team probably will screw up more than half the time and you'll win games you shouldn't.

I just don't think this coach and this philosophy will ever create a team that is good enough to match up with great teams in the playoffs and beat them. Great teams don't make mistakes, exploit your offensive and defensive weaknesses and won't lose to your mediocre philosophy of overachievement.

I'm not sure I want Marnelli here.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

My, how soon we do forget about a playoff run to the Super Bowl that included beating a TOUGH Saints team in the NFC Championship.

Lovie's had 3 different good years. He's a "good" coach. His philosophy creates the opportunity for "good" seasons. Other teams will make mistakes. This year is a good example of them not having great talent and staying in close games. The other team probably will screw up more than half the time and you'll win games you shouldn't.

I just don't think this coach and this philosophy will ever create a team that is good enough to match up with great teams in the playoffs and beat them. Great teams don't make mistakes, exploit your offensive and defensive weaknesses and won't lose to your mediocre philosophy of overachievement.

Many that is true, but an incomplete statement.

Also if you fuck someone like they are a millionaire they might go try to be one.

I don't know how this turned into me defending Lovie but by most standards a 9 win season is good - especially, given the offensive personnel.

He's a horrible in game coach but his teams have a won a fair amount of games. This year's defense does not have "great" players. Briggs is great. Urlacher and Harris have the potential to be great but didn't perform to that level. A.Brown, Ogunleye, M.Brown, Tillman have the potential to be really good but didn't always hit that. These guys are getting older and don't have any young guys that I see that can step in. There's lots of problems here but 9 wins is a good season, just not good enough.

Many that is true, but an incomplete statement.

My next employment was with the San Diego Chargers and I was fortunate enough to have someone like Dan Fouts to work with. Now the list of opening plays began to number 10 and 12. In other words, we began to plan the opening sequences of the game. From there I went to Stanford and the list went to 20. We would have our first 20 plays to be called. Now with San Francisco we finally stopped with 25. What we have finally done is rehearse the opening part of the game, almost the entire first half, by planning the game before it even starts.

Now why would you do such a thing? I know this, your ability to think concisely, your ability to make good judgments is much easier on Thursday night than during the heat of the game. So we prefer to make our decisions related to the game almost clinically, before the game is ever played. We've scouted our opponent, we have looked at films, we know our opponent well. If you coach at the high school level, often you are in the same league with the same coaches and you know them like a book. With out question you can make more objective decisions during the week as to what you would do in the game than you can spontaneously as the game is being played. To be honest with you, you are in a state of stress, sometimes you are in a state of desperation and you are asked to make very calculated decisions. It is rarely done in warfare and certainly not in football; so your decisions made during the week are the ones that make sense. In the final analysis, after a lot of time and thought and a lot of planning, and some practice, I will isolate myself prior to the game and put together the first 25 plays for the game. They are related to certain things.

We just have a different definition of good, then. I think you can have a good season and still need to get fired. I'm not saying that Lovie should get fired - just that things need to change. I don't buy the adjustment thing but I think Lovie makes horrible decisions on clock management and working the refs / challenges.

It's not adjustments. He's adjusting within a framework that seeks to minimize aggressiveness - to be reactive instead of proactive. The D line was so poor at getting a push that they had to blitz all the time and they aren't good at it. They are not equipped to attack. They are equipped to react. They can't adjust that.

My earlier criticism stands. I don't like Lovie's philosophy and even though it may lead some to think he has success. It's not the kind that leads a team to greatness and championships.

Many that is true, but an incomplete statement.

Also, this is why they "Never show up" in the big games. They are not used to playing "to win". That's not their philosophy. They are playing "not to lose/let the other team lose" at all times.

But, let's not forget that they almost lost to Seattle at home in the first round.

Time Out

He's better than 0-16 without a doubt. He would be a much more valuable and experienced asst than anyone else the Bears have on the sideline. For Lovie to be a "great" coach, he needs to have help from his coaching staff, and Pep Hamilton, the WR Coach, and Babich are not strong enough asst. coaches for the Bears to do well.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Forgive me if I missed where this was posted earlier in this thread... but what exactly are we saying Lovie's philosophy is?

I think we agreed that it is to try not to lose, and hope the other team sucks enough to turn the ball over and more or less score your points for you. Also make sure not to play with any sense of urgency, no matter what situation, shit will work out.

Also make sure not to play with any sense of urgency

That's what I was afraid of.

This is what I don't understand about Bears fans in general: why does everyone in this City think that a coach needs to have the "fire and the passion" on the sidelines in order to be considered "great"? Ditka is being turned into the worst thing this football franchise ever saw.

For the life of me, I've never been able to figure out what the hell that means. How does one play with urgency?

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

For the life of me, I've never been able to figure out what the hell that means. How does one play with urgency?

For the life of me, I've never been able to figure out what the hell that means. How does one play with urgency?