Devil’s Advocate: Why Lovie Smith Should Stay the Chicago Bears’ Coach
Published by Harry Combs on November 24, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
For the past few seasons a lot of fans have been calling for Lovie Smith‘s head.
The Bears have missed the playoffs for three straight years. But is that really a cause for this much hate?
I’ve seen a number of people claim they would rather see a losing season and Lovie gone than a non-Super-Bowl-winning year. Really?
Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather see the Bears win and stick with any coach than to see them lose at all.
In the previous two seasons before Smith, the Bears were a combined 11-21. You can mix and match any two seasons under Lovie, and none will combine to be that bad.
Smith took this bottom-tier team and in his first year brought the defense back to be ranked 13th. In his second year the Bears posted the No. 1 defense in the league, which we rode to our first division crown in four years. If the season ended today, the average Bear D would be 10th. Since Lovie has been here, on average, the Bear D has been the 10th best. That’s over seven seasons.
The Lovie Smith Bears are currently 59-47 (.557). That’s 12 games over .500. According to my research, that puts him at 61st all-time. Lovie is also 68th in all-times win as a coach. The average number of games coached for everyone above Lovie is 211. Lovie is pretty high on that list for only being in his seventh season. Every coach above him has coached at least eight full seasons.
There are only three coaches in the history of the Bears to record more than three winning seasons in their tenure. These three also are the only ones to take the Bears to the playoffs more than once. Lovie is on this list. The other two on the list certainly have a lot more achievements than Lovie, but who can beat Mike Ditka and “Papa Bear” Halas?
Lovie is not the greatest, but he is certainly under-appreciated. Pretty much every year his teams will show up and at least compete. Compare Lovie to the coaches who have lost their jobs in the past few years. Nearly all of those teams were completely falling apart.
The players like playing for Lovie. He gets a lot out of the players we have. Why not finish off the offense and really see what he can do with a complete football team?
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