Call me a believer. Outside of challenges and some clock management issues, Lovie has repeatedly shown an ability to maximize the talent that's on his team. It's hard to argue that any any point during his tenure that the Bears were a top 10 most talented team in the league and he's lead them to 2 10win+ seasons, Super Bowl appearance and obviously the success he's enjoying this season.


I wouldn't be upset if they add two years onto his deal. We could certainly do far worse from the coach.

Hopefully, the McCaskey's will not reup Jerry. The poor drafts and overall lack of talent on this roster is an indictment on him. You can't argue that Jerry does great through free agency and trades since a good GM should be able to improve the team through the draft and FA.

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Team Cutler.

Lovie Smith, after last night's game, has a better career winning percentage as a head coach than Jimmy Johnson.

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Fire Phil Emery

The problem with re-upping a coach and replacing the GM is that some GM's will work to basically sabotage the coach so they can bring their guy in.

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I agree Lovie has done a nice job but I wouldn't give him anymore years
until this time next year. We definitely need a change at GM and possibly
president but those guys have contracts that run until 2013 or something
like that. We'll likely be looking at the same group next year.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Angelo's been sabotaging Lovie for years.

There's a big difference between sabotage and ineptitude.

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You rarely see coaches go into a season on the last year of their contract, for a few reasons. I'm guessing the Bears will make a decision after this season and at this point, Lovie is getting an extension.

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Team Cutler.

It is true, though. When you can't have confidence in a GM's first couple of rounds of the draft year-in and year-out, the guy doesn't deserve to keep his job.

I have been impressed by the overall job done by the coaches this year, but I still can't stand how stubborn they are sometimes. Example: how many damn times did they need to run between the tackles last night to show them that it wasn't going to work?? They ran outside and had sizeable gains, but would always revert back to getting Forte and Taylor hammered at the line every couple of plays. I dunno, I just don't see the point, especially when that takes mileage off of guys that we desperately need down the stretch...

Make the playoffs: Stay
Miss the playoffs: Go

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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!

Agree with Northside Dan.

I give Lovie Smith credit in that his teams have never quit on him or played vastly below expectations like this years Vikings or Cowboys. His players seem to respect him and will play hard for him,

His in game decisions are head scratchers, along with his use of instant replay. But we don't always know what info he is getting from the box regarding replay. And guys like McCarthy and John Fox have made some boneheaded decisions regarding instant replay in games against the Bears. I would bet that the fan bases of most NFL teams think their head coaches do not handle replay properly.

I may be guilty of drinking the cool aid but if Tommie Harris and Mike Brown start in the Super Bowl, I think Lovie's Bears win that game. That defense went from the best to a little above average without those 2.

I think Angelo is a bigger problem for the Bears and if had to fire one I would fire Angelo.

If the Bears win the division, would I give Lovie an extension? I just might, but try to work it out for maybe only a year. Seems like both players and coaches perform best when there is some desperation, and not locked in to long term contracts.

You could do better than Lovie, but you can also do a lot worse <cough> Wanny, Jauron <cough>

Agreed. This also includes Angelo for me....

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This is my signature...

Lovie is indeed quite the alchemist: Who would've thought he could achieve success by transmogrifiying what was ostensibly a franchise quarterback into a game manager? You can win in the regular season by playing not to lose, but playing not to lose in the playoffs will insure defeat. Lovie is coaching to save his job, not to win the Superbowl.

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For fear into getting into an argument where you use a lot of words I won't understand, I'll respectfully disagree.

At least it terms of the game last night, it was an very effective use of Cutler. It was clear that the Bears defense was going to more or less shut down Miami all night, so the only way Miami had a chance was turnovers. What would have been the advantage of the Bears throwing the ball 40+ times just to Jay could look like a play maker? Jay was really solid on third downs. Unfortunately, he still threw 3 or 4 passes that should have been picked off even as the game manager

Coaching to save his job and not win Super Bowls? How are those separate?

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Team Cutler.

This type of thinking makes no sense to me. Seriously, it wouldn't matter what they do? I mean that includes winning a superbowl, right?

I don't care that they won a superbowl, screw them, they make some bonehead calls.

Lovie has deserved a lot of criticism in the past, but this year he is doing a nice job and the coaches around him are doing a good job. Why is it so hard for fans to admit that?

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

Yeah, I mean I think Lovie still would have won the Super Bowl with Ditka's SB team and Ditka still would have lost the Super Bowl with Lovie's SB team, and yet I still hear Ditka for at least an hour every week on the radio

Give everyone 5 year extensions.

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Lovie has done a decent job. Agree that if better players were drafted for him, he would be considered a bettr coach too.
'
The potential lockout for next season really has teams in a pickle as to whether or not coaches get fired or retained. Teams are not going to fire a coach who has years & money still on contract, and then hire a new coach & staff when next season could be jeopardy...or at least the pre season drills & practices and so forth could be significantl affected by a lockout. Lovie's not going anywhere for now.

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Proud to be UNVERIFIED.

Ditka lifted a program from decades of mediocrity into a perennial contender and super bowl champion. Don't even begin to compare the jobs the two have done. It's the same with Irish Boy's rudimentary comparison of Jimmie Johnson and Lovie Smith.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I don't think he deserves to be compared with Ditka or Johnson, but goodness he deserves some credit. People act like he is the worst coach this team has ever had, and that is also just as ridiculous.

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

It makes perfect sense. We have had close to 7 years to review Lovie as a coach. A strong opinion should have been formed in that time.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Correct (and I don't think Ditka is in the same class as Johnson either). I think he is an average coach being payed like an elite coach. He's like Ozzie to me: you could do worse and you could do better. It's not my money, but I would think for that salary you could do A LOT better.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

That is probably true, but do you have any confidence in the management in selecting someone who is a lot better? I don't.

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

Lovie is a guy who has surrounded himself with underachieving cronies since day 1. This has resulted in an inability to judge talent and to develop talent.

We all know about his in game coaching deficiencies, so that is not a point I will argue.

What about the inane and singular professional football philosophy of redshirting.

Shit, I had an argument to make but I have to go. Now my brilliance is going to be lost. Do with this what you want.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

2 rings (And an NCAA Nat'l Championship), and Johnson coached a 1-15 team which skews his numbers.

I'm not saying Lovie hasn't been better this year, but your post there doesn't tell the entire story.

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That's ignoring the difference between Vanisi and Angelo though.

Isn't that his fault? Why shouldn't that be held against him?

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This is my signature...

It's difficult to fully blame, or fully credit a coach's record in that first season or 2 on said coach. Especially at the time when Johnson started coaching the Cowpies. There were still a lot of shitty leftovers from the end of the Tom Landry era that Johnson had to work with.

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It counts for sure, but that wasn't entirely his fault. That was his first year as Cowboys coach. The following year, he was 7-9. The next 3 years he won double digit games.

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But I don't understand why his 1-15 record should even come into the discussion. Of course it should count against him. It's part of his record. If they went 15-1 in his first season, should that also come into question?

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This is my signature...

Lovie's worst record was also his first year.

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Team Cutler.