Chicago Bears Insider: Can the Bears Fire Lovie Smith?
Published by Bryan Dietzler on November 9, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
We have already seen the proverbial axe fall on one head coach so far this season. Wade Phillips was let go in Dallas after a dismal start to the season, and the Cowboys offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett, took over (already tabbed as being a “head coach in waiting”). This may end up being a much more smooth transition when compared to other fire and hire jobs that we have seen in the past. Having someone in the organization that already knows how things work, especially with the owners is much better than just hiring someone off the street.
But there is a much bigger issue to the firing of coaches this season that may end up causing some strange happenings in the whole process. What is it? It’s the current lack of a collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the Players Association. Believe it or not, this will have some effect on what owners decide to do with their current head coaches at the end of this season.
We must realize that any coach that is fired with time remaining on his contract will still get paid for that time remaining on his contract. For example, since Lovie Smith has one year left on his contract after the end of this season, if the Bears decided to let him go they would still be on the hook for his salary. Now imagine paying someone’s salary when your business is currently not functioning? There is no one coming to work, nothing is being made or distributed and there is no money being made.
So why pay two people (an ex-head coach and a current head coach) when there is no money coming in? That’s the dilemma that will face any team that wishes to fire a coach with money left remaining on their contract. If there is no football then these teams aren’t making any money so does it make sense for teams to pay two guys when they aren’t getting any money coming in the door. Teams may then be forced to stick with their current head coaches while they wait for the NFL and the Players Association to hammer out a new agreement.
So if Smith and the Bears take a fall and fail to make the playoffs this season, will the Bears let Smith and his coaching staff go knowing the uncertainty that faces them in league matters? Knowing the ownership and the upper management of the team, it’s doubtful that they would make a move like that before they knew what was happening with the current labor situation.
Another way to look at this is the following: Why would any team want to pay a new head coach to sit around and do nothing while everyone waits for the NFL and the Player’s Association to work on their differences? Granted, you would be paying Smith to sit around as well but when the agreement was signed, and the players would come back to work who would you rather have in place someone who has a whole new system to teach or someone who has an existing system in place that the players already know and don’t need to learn. That makes a lot of sense.
So if there is no agreement by the time the season is over then you can expect the Bears to retain Smith and his coaching staff for one more season giving them one more shot to make things right in Chicago. Even if the Bears stumble down the stretch and make the playoffs, it may make much more financial sense to keep Smith in Chicago because of the upcoming labor problems than to let him go. Needless to say, it’s going to be a very interesting offseason.
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