Unless you expect the McCaskey's to foolishly spend millions of dollars on bad business decisions(insert joke here).

So Lovie has $11 million left through the next two seasons. 2011 looks like it will be a lockout year. Whether it is or not, right now any business decision must be made with the idea it is. Let's say you hire Gruden or Cowher, which many of you pine for, since Shanny and Holmgren are taken. Shanny is getting a reportedly $7 million/year contract. Let's say Cowher commands that too, and Gruden wants a $5 million annual contract.

So the next two seasons you are paying $25 million to get Cowher , likely to only coach one year. You're paying $21 million to get Gruden , again, for one year probably.

Even if you get a guy like Frasier, Harbaugh, etc. Let's say they want $3 million/year. So you're paying $17 million for one of them, for possibly one year, maybe both.

I realize after the next two seasons, the contracts become what they should be. But that's millions of wasted dollars, and there's no tangible proof that any of them are better than Lovie, except Cowher, who reportedly doesn't even want to coach right now.

It would have been a bad business decision to fire Lovie.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Sums up yesteday in two words, that's exactly what it was. Hold tight and hope the CBA gets rectified prior a lockout in 2011.

Financially it was a good decision for the Bears.

This is really going to hurt the team though if Lovie is fired next year. This will simply be another wasted year. The entire coaching staff would go with him.

Therefore, we'd be starting from scratch again and having to deal with all of those issues. It's highly unlikely that the offensive coordinator would stay with a new coach being brought in.

So the Bears ownership saves a bunch of money and the team has a clear path of instability for the next 2-3 years.

And we get at least one more Jerry Angelo draft class to build our team on!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You know Lovie is going to pull a 13-3 season out of his ass and then what do you do?

I know, I know, it is highly unlikely, but the same thing would have been said about the Bears going into Jauron's magical year.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Well it might be a wasted year. But think of it from the other side. If you hire Gruden, Harbaugh, Frasier, Hot Coordinator X, you dont necessarily have a better coach that Lovie. So you're spending upwards of $10-15 million dollars on a replacement who's not better. What's worse, if they are as bad as Lovie or worse, then instead of one wasted year, you'll have 3-4.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

You know whats millions of wasted dollars? check this out:
Chicago Bears 2009 player compensation:

Tommie Harris $9.1 Million
Devon Hester $6.9 Million
Frank Omiyale $5 Million
Orlando Pace $5.3 Million

THAT is what you call bad ROI. $26.3 Million for what???

The fact remains that the Bears certainly have the solvency & cash flow to be able to pay off Lovies $11 Million contract without going out of business. The CBA issues will end up being a short term issue. The NFL sponsors will not tolerate a long stoppage or lockout. There's just too much money to be lost. Once again the Bears make big decisions based on the small picture & short term, rather than the big picture & long term.

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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

I am almost ok with the idea of keeping around Lovie because of the monetary issues/potential lame duck season before 2011. But I wish we could have canned Angelo to bring in some players who can actually block/pass rush. But after watching the train wreck that was the process of the Angelo hire I have no faith in the Ginny/Michael McCaskey/Ted Phillips combo to make the right decision regarding anything with this football team. Therefore you might as well let Angelo and Lovie play out the string and see what happens with the beckoning labor Armageddon.

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Lovie may be a good coach but he's not working here. 3 straight years have proven that. I'd rather give another guy a shot and see what he can do. All the Bears did was make us wait another year before we give that coach a chance to build his program.

The Bears are not moving forward by keeping Lovie. They are treading water in order to save money in case there is a lockout. No one knows how those people would do but at least the team would have a clear direction.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Thanks for this FF. Hub touched upon some of this yesterday on B&B, but it's good to see the numbers breakdown.

I can definitely understand why Lovie is still here and you can't fault the business decision at all.

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Team Cutler.

This has almost nothing to do with what I stated. My main point is you are paying $10 million+ for a replacement coach without any reason to think they will be better. I know you think Lovie is the worst coach in the NFL. But he's not. He's probably not in the bottom 10, although this season was the worst I've seen out of him.

And just because they have the money to pay a new coach and pay Lovie(again, both to NOT coach in 2011), without going broke, doesn't mean they should. I could throw $50 dollars in the trash right now, and I wouldnt be broke. But I would have alot less money and regret my decision.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Right, but the fans and sponsors loyalty is exactly why they can get away without firing him. If the Bears run off a 5-11 6-10 type season, the team wouldn't see a significant loss in cash. So, from a business perspective, why would they fire Lovie and the staff, pay them for 2 years to sit around, and bring in an entirely new staff whom also has to get paid with a potential disaster with the CBA looming over their heads (end run on sentence)

From a purely wanting to win the Super Bowl this year perspective, it's bad. From a long term financial decision, it's a no brainer.

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Team Cutler.

In this economic climate, treading water might be the best option. There's no real good candidates that stand out right now. Why not see what Lovie does, and see if Cowher wants to come in 2011, or 2012 if there is a lockout.

I'm guessing many here would take Jeff Fisher. IIRC, he's had two different 3 season stretches of missing the playoffs. It's not like Lovie has gone 4-12. I believe 7-9 is the worst he's done. It's not like they are a bottom feeder under him.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I'm not surprised that they kept Lovie. I am somewhat surprised at the vote of confidence by tripling down on Lovie's philosophy.

Who did they get rid of? All of the non-Lovie guys. Not a single Lovie guy got canned.

Lovie is clutching even tighter to his D philosophy, because what incentive has he been given to change? And we will have more Lovie guys, doing Lovie things, giving Lovie interviews, saying Lovie cliches, doing the Lovie ballpunch, giving up Lovie touchdowns, and forcing the too infrequent Lovie turnover, while we go from there.

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You know me like that.

I'm not defending the assistants. I think it's insane Babich wasn't fired. At least Turner is gone. I thought he was awful for Cutler.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

FUCK THE BEARS,FUCK THE SNOW!!!

I'M DREAMING OF THIS:

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Economically it is the best decision. However, if Lovie is fired next year it hurt the product on the field. If the goal is to win the Super Bowl then you want to get a new coach in as quick as possible who can rebuild the program. We'll be a year behind because of this.
The problem is not really with Lovie Smith. He didn't forget how to coach overnight. It's the fact that things aren't working well here right now. No matter how good a coach is they eventually start to fizzle out at a job. Lovie will get another head coaching job somewhere and I think he'll do good but I don't think this partnership between the Bears and him is going to produce great results.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Lovie is bad. He may not be horrible but he is bad. Tell me one thing the Bears do well. What is his philosophy? Don't tell me injuries made them bad this year. They were in the bottom half in Team D last year. He is a defensive coach with bad defenses. He has no offensive philosophy and doesn't seem to care much. He steadfastly holds to his system and has a roster of guys that aren't very good at it.

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You know me like that.

I dont understand your second argument, and am not entirely sure I agree with your first.

1.) I dont know that it hurts the product on the field. It's really a crapshoot hiring a Coordinator or college coach. A really expensive crapshoot. And again, if it turns out your new guy isn't better than Lovie, then you just set the team back 3+ years, in Cutler's prime. Not a good idea. Dont fire Lovie unless you have a guy waiting that you are very sold on.

2.) Not every coach fizzles out. Cowher and Fisher didn't. Belichick(exception, I know) hasn't. I'm guessing Holmgren wouldnt have with Green Bay if he didnt decide to leave. Ditto with Jimmy Johnson. Cowher and Fisher are the bext examples though. Both have gone through rough seasons, sometimes multiple season stretches, but both are pretty solid coaches who usually keep their teams competitive.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Well you cant have it both ways though. If Angelo is a bad GM, that means he brings in bad players(because thats essentially the GM's job). So if Lovie is working with bad players, than you cant expect great results. He's never had a very bad season. If you maintain Lovie is a very bad coach, then you must think Angelo has gotten him enough quality players to win 10+ games every year.

Love isn't a bad coach. He's an average coach. Give him something that resembles a 10 win team, he will most likely get you 10 wins. Give him something that resembles a 6-7 win team, he will be a game or two under .500

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Since Lovie Smith took over,the Bears rank 1st in takeaways in the NFL. (I think this is correct,I heard it a few times on TV.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Do you choose to ignore his early success?

It's not both ways. I don't love Angelo either but he brings in guys to play Lovie's system. They don't draft a moose in the middle of the D line because they need Tommie Harris types that are quick and get hurt all the time. What was wrong with Chris Harris? He didn't work in Lovie system so he's gone. Lovie didn't need to take over the D this year but he did. His mind is on one thing only. He's average to bad with a team headed nowhere. This is exactly when a team would make a change to go in another direction but the Bears want to save the money they would have to pay a coach for the next 2 years.

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You know me like that.

Pretty much. Since he hasn't proven to be able to sustain it in any way. Dick Jauron won 13 games once. I don't want him either.

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You know me like that.

@ Dr. Ken's edited Avatar

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-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

Whoever the guy is that tells Lovie to go ahead and throw the red flag should be crucified.

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I agree Nas that the talent is lacking at this point but I would rather they start bringing in talent to play a defense doesn't get torched on a regular basis. The Bears are now 4 years removed from an offense or defense that finished in the top 15 in either yards or points. Turnovers are great but they are still giving up points and aren't scoring that many. I just see no direction from this group from Angelo on down and now we have another year or two to deal with it. I hope they get better. I really do but I don't see it happening.

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You know me like that.

NAS,
+100! I have said this also,somewhere (yesterday,I think). The last 2 years,it's a credit to Lovie this team wasn't 4-12. I know there are a lot on in game screw-ups,but I bet you can say that to every coaching staff. It does not bother me he is returning,better then a retread or some "fresh face" genius of the month.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Dick Jauron won 13 games aided by an incredible amount of luck or Walter Paytons ghost.

They won at least three games they should have lost.

Lovie came in went 11-5 in his second year with a below average rookie qb.
The next year he went 13-3

He is not without fault, but he is miles ahead of Jauron or Wanny

I don't care if it was a good financial decision. I don't watch the Bears so I can cheer for their financial decisions. I hate to sound meatballish but you're going too far into the other direction if you're basing the merit of keeping Lovie by finances. If you think he's an adequate coach, fine.

Stats are like your brother-in-law. They had 2 real good years and have been below average for 3 years in a row in both points allowed and yards allowed. This is his thing, his specialty. How many years does he get to get it right?

What good are turnovers if the other team still scores all the time when they don't turn it over?

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You know me like that.