Lovie Smith fired

[Giants #1 Fan]

RT @RapSheet: BREAKING: #Bears have fired coach Lovie Smith, I'm told #BlackMonday

https://mobile.twitter.com/MikeGaraf...73982102343680

Thoughts?

[Pinstripe power]

not surprising at all. 7-1 and miss the playoffs? someones head has to roll

[MiniDitka]

not surprising at all. 7-1 and miss the playoffs? someones head has to roll

I'm not so sure it's about that. I think even if the Vikings lose and the Bears make it to San Fran for a first round game (and probably lose), what's the real difference? The Bears hired a new GM last year and usually the GM gets to clean house and hire who he wants. Short of a superbowl run, i think Lovie's fate was about as predetermined as it gets.

But, because no GM fires a great coach, Lovie's performance issues boil down to one player: Devin Hester. Way back when, after discovering how dangerous he was with the ball in his hands, they try to incorporate him on offense. Good idea, but it was clear it wasn't working early. Yet, we kept doing it, across 3 offensive coordinators. Anyone who watches him on offense knows he's terrible yet it kept happening. The only constant there, considering Emery is now the GM and Hester still got a lot of offensive snaps, is Lovie. That shows how detached he is from smart/good offense and you simply can't win big without, at the very least, a good offense anymore.

The Bears just needed a different direction. Lovie is a good coach and a great man. He'll make some team very lucky as the D coordinator and maybe could help drag a crappy team up to respectability as a head coach.

[NYSPORTS98]

You only get so many chances and can't lose out to the Vikings in the division this year.

[ChitownBears22]

Great great day! This should have happened in 2007. No more defensive minded HC's please. We need an offensive mind in an offensive league.

[BlinkManJan02]

Great great day! This should have happened in 2007. No more defensive minded HC's please. We need an offensive mind in an offensive league.

Well, a decent/consistent QB and some receivers would have helped Smith's case. Can't put all the blame on him. Get some offensive weapons. Forte and Marshall, that's the offense right there. I obviously don't know them or follow them as closely as others though, especially Bear fans. Sooo I don't have a whole lot of room to speak.

[ChitownBears22]

Well, a decent/consistent QB and some receivers would have helped Smith's case. Can't put all the blame on him. Get some offensive weapons. Forte and Marshall, that's the offense right there. I obviously don't know them or follow them as closely as others though, especially Bear fans. Sooo I don't have a whole lot of room to speak.

Lovie bothered me because he just never desired to improve the offense. Was unwilling to draft a QB that he could develop after realizing Grossman and Orton were just average. As the league evolved he stayed stagnant. He was unable to bring in position coaches to help develop WR's, and once again refused to draft WR's and develop them. He was sure Hester was a starting WR for 4 years and that never panned out, and 3 of those years he was considered the #1 WR. The final straw for me was when he fired Martz to promote Tice to be the OC. As bad as Martz was he was at least smart enough to create a gameplan and adjust it in game and during the season. Lovie and Tice decided that Cutler to Marshall 15 times a game was good enough to be a competetive offense. It wasn't until week 17 that Forte was utilized in the pass game and that we finally started throwing screens to Marshalls side of the field (the guy is a monster blocker on the outside)

Those are just the basic screw ups by Love on offense, that even a 4 year old could point out were stupid. That is without mentioning the offensive line, which I could write about for days.

[Think]

Can't feel too bad for Lovie. Several teams want to talk to him, bad teams of course but they still want to talk to him. He can sit out next season and collect almost 5 million from the Bears.

[cyber16]

I could see Smith maybe ending up in Minny as the new D coach.
Not that the current D coach has been bad, just up & down and he is only in his first season.

[Wisdom Listens]

I could see Smith maybe ending up in Minny as the new D coach.
Not that the current D coach has been bad, just up & down and he is only in his first season.

Not likely. The Vikings are very high on Williams.

[j11430]

This doesn't make me happy. Lovie isn't the problem. He was the defensive coach, he didn't worry about the offense. The defense was average at worst throughout his tenure. They never got an offensive coordinator fit our players.

I really don't care either way, but firing Lovie wasn't the right thing to do

[Pinstripe power]

This doesn't make me happy. Lovie isn't the problem. He was the defensive coach, he didn't worry about the offense. The defense was average at worst throughout his tenure. They never got an offensive coordinator fit our players.

I really don't care either way, but firing Lovie wasn't the right thing to do

thats why he was fired. you can't not worry about half the game as the ehad coach

[j11430]

thats why he was fired. you can't not worry about half the game as the ehad coach

It wasn't his job. He was essentially the defensive coordinator since 2007. He wasn't the one in charge of developing quarterbacks or offensive linemen. He wasn't the offensive playcaller.

Like I said above, I don't really care. But firing him didn't fix anything. If they had hired a real offensive coordinator they would have been a lot better

[Pinstripe power]

It wasn't his job. He was essentially the defensive coordinator since 2007. He wasn't the one in charge of developing quarterbacks or offensive linemen. He wasn't the offensive playcaller.

Like I said above, I don't really care. But firing him didn't fix anything. If they had hired a real offensive coordinator they would have been a lot better

everything is your job when you are the head coach. otherwise he actually would have just been the defensive cooridnator. the team choked, and has misse dthe playoffs 5 out of the last 6 seaosns.

[j11430]

everything is your job when you are the head coach. otherwise he actually would have just been the defensive cooridnator. the team choked, and has misse dthe playoffs 5 out of the last 6 seaosns.

I agree, but he wasn't in charge of signing players. They never hired an offensive coordinator that was worth a damn while he was there. He was in charge of coaching defense and did an awesome job of that.

He didn't have a real quarterback on his team until 2009. Once he had Cutler, he was 35-23 (I'm just doing that math in my head). If the FO had done a better job of getting offensive talent throughout Lovie's time there, his record would have been much better.

The shortcomings of the Bears don't fall on Lovie's shoulders. It's been the FO.