Thread: Mark Potash to Lovie: Win or else...

Originally Posted by 4th and 26

Lovie smith is surrounded by lovie buddies who were with him when he was a coach on the rams. If he were really a good coach he should be able to figure out how to bring in new coaches on his own without having to pick from dick vermeils old team. Why is Bob Babich still on the team? This guy blows. I can list a crap load of coaches he had under him yet I don't want a headache. If it were not for lovies 11 million in guarenteed money he would have been gone last year. Lovie will always be the lame dick HC that will make the worst decisions in the most crucial games. He still continues to do it this year yet people seem to forget those moments and only focus on the successes of this season.

Regardless of how easy/difficult our schedule was, how many second and third string quarterbacks we faced, somehow, those "Lovie Buddies" guided this team to an 11-5 record. That's a lot better than the crap that we got out of Bob Babich as our defensive coordinator and Ron Turner as our offensive coordinator. If this coaching staff somehow by the grace of God gets us to the Super Bowl, I'll take it any day of the week.

Originally Posted by 4th and 26

A drunk monkey could have coached the defense and be successful. A bag of rocks could call better plays than Ron turner yet it was lovie that kept him employed way too long. He should have been dumped years ago. Babich should not be employed yet for some reason the guy is still on the team. Marrinelli is not that great of a coach, the way people talk about him yet he only improved our DL 1.5 sacks last year yet gets promoted to DC because nobody wanted the job. I think Martz is a far better OC than we have had over the last 20 years yet if he were really this good I would think he would be a HC again. Our best years on defense were when Ron Rivera called the plays. Hell, lovie called them last year and failed big time.

That's why Lovie is a wise coach, 4th. He learned that he wasn't that good of a playcaller for the talent that was on this team, and he thus handed over the reins to Marinelli. Bob Babich was a good LB coach before he ever became a defensive coordinator, yet people are still badmouthing him for his job as a coordinator when he is clearly doing at worst a decent job as linebackers coach. It's pure and simple: Babich is coaching three players who have been in Pro Bowls before and, despite being at advanced ages, still perform at a high level.

Smith deserving of extension

If Bears go to NFC Championship, it's smart to lock up him before lame duck season

Dan Pompei On the NFL

Let's assume the Seahawks don't upset Lovie Smith's Bears on Sunday.

Let's assume Pete Carroll and his staff don't outcoach Smith and his.

And let's assume the Bears become one of football's final four.

How, then, could the Bears not try to sign Smith to a contract extension in the offseason? It would be in the best short term and long term interests of the organization to sign Smith before he went into the final year of his deal.

After seven years, is there something — anything — the Bears don't know about Smith as a coach? There is not. And there probably is nothing they are going to learn next year so there is no reason to let him dangle.

We know he's not the best game manager in the league. We know he's challenged on challenges. We know he's as demonstrative on the sidelines as a bullfrog on a lily pad. We know he does not attempt much game plan wizardry.

But we also know he has done some things right. Coaches should be judged on a body of work, not on a small window of their careers.

The only coaches who have won more games in the NFL in the time Smith has been in the league are Bill Belichick, Andy Reid and Tom Coughlin. The Bears have been the best team in the NFC North since Smith took over.

You need success for validation, and Smith has had enough success. Deciding who should be the coach of a football team should be about much more than victories and defeats though. It should be about a program. And it's evident Bears ownership and management likes Smith's program, which is working better than it ever has. Keeping that program in place has merit.

There is a value to stability in the NFL that is rarely acknowledged. Stability may not guarantee success, but consistent change will guarantee failure, or at least less success.

Would the Bears have been an 11-5 team this year if they had a first-year coach instead of Smith? Doubtful.

If the McCaskey family, Ted Phillips and Jerry Angelo wanted to replace Smith, their golden opportunity was after last season. They chose not to because they liked who he was as a coach even though they did not like the results over a three-year period. And they believed he could make necessary changes.

Smith knows how to prepare a team through the course of an offseason, training camp, preseason and regular season. He manages players well. He gets people to work together. He can weather a storm.

You have to admit this about Smith too, if you are honest with yourself: He has gotten better at what he does. He has become a more mature head coach and he has learned from mistakes.

The Bears have had some failures in player development over Smith's tenure. This year, they are playing young guys such as Major Wright, J'Marcus Webb and Corey Wootton.

In years past, they haven't always made in-game adjustments as effectively as they should have. There has been improvement in that area this season, in part because Smith has improved his coaching staff. The Bears should want to keep those assistants, too.

Smith has been criticized for not being demanding of his players, but the fire in his eyes scared the dog out of them at halftime in Detroit a little more than a month ago.

More than ever this year, Smith has been open to change and more interested in competition. That's how Tim Jennings got on the field and how Tommie Harris lost playing time. It's how Mark Anderson got ridden out of town, and how Chris Williams became a guard.

Bringing back Smith next year as a lame duck might be setting him up to fail. How did lame duck coaches do this year? John Fox and Marvin Lewis had a combined winning percentage of .218 for the Panthers and Bengals respectively.

I am no fan of the lame duck approach. Either a team needs to make a commitment to a coach, or to his replacement.

The Bears might have no choice but to bring back Smith as a lame duck. It's possible they will try to extend him but won't be able to come to an agreement. Smith already is making $5 million a year, and that's a lot of jack, given the current marketplace for coaches.

The Bears might not want to give him a raise. Smith might not want to sign the deal they offer.

If it happens that way, it happens. But the only reason not to try, at least, to extend Smith this offseason is you wanted to fire him all along.

dpompei@tribune.com