Thread: Bears would appeal to Cowher

Lovie Smith will go down as the second greatest coach in the long and storied history of the Chicago Bears. While he hasn't had the dominant teams that Halas had in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, as well as the great string of teams Mike Ditka put together with the help of arguably one of the greatest general managers of all time in Jim Finks during the 1980s and early '90s, it's not been because he hasn't managed his team well or for not having coached them up to win. No, quite the opposite is true here. Lovie is fourteen games over .500 in his career. Take that into consideration when you look at him having to wade around in the pool of shit that Jerry Angelo floated his way.

Lovie is just a few good years away from breaking Mike Ditka's record for the second best wins/loss record in team history. He's been to the Super Bowl once and to the NFC Championship Game one other time. He's fielded five teams with a .500 or better record despite having some of the worst offensive talent in the NFL. His defenses are always in the top half of the league statistically even in their worst years, and he has constructed arguably the best special teams units in the history of the NFL. Yet, here we are, hearing people bellyache about how awful a coach Lovie Smith is because he doesn't go ballistic on his players like Halas or Ditka once did. The thought of that, to me, is appalling.

I feel that Lovie will win at least one Super Bowl before he decides to hang up the clipboard at the sunset of a long, happy career in Chicago. Win big this year, and he'll get that contract extension, as well as perhaps a stamp to stay around in Chicago as long as he wants. And that's the way it should be, because Lovie is not just a good coach, he's a great coach because he motivates his players to go out and play their best football. And they respect him for that very reason.

Originally Posted by soulman

I'll bet anyone who wants to bet $10,000 Bears Bucks that Lovie will not only finish the 2012 season but that he'll get his extension. At least 50% of the problem the Bears have had maintaining consistency from year to year have some from a lack of offensive talent and a lack of proper depth at key positions.

We all listened to Angelo's lame excuses for that and listened to Lovie cover for him as well as would be expected. Well it's a new day. Phil Emery came in and fixed that right off the bat. It was calling in a repairman to fix an appliance that wasn't working which the owner had been making excuses about for years and Emery takes one look at it and says, 'it would probably work better if you plugged it in".

Bang, problem solved. JA wouldn't even admit there was a problem and Emery comes on board and says "of course there is" and he goes right to work repairing it. Lovie and his staff are finally beginning to get the tools they need to do their job with so if the problem is really due to poor coaching we should know that very, very soon.

I'm 99.99% sure that Lovie will stay and get an extension, don't get me wrong. All I'm saying is that he is on the hot seat and if he wants to keep his job, he has to win early and often. If not, he could be gone if things don't go our way.

Originally Posted by GermansbombedPH

I'm 99.99% sure that Lovie will stay and get an extension, don't get me wrong. All I'm saying is that he is on the hot seat and if he wants to keep his job, he has to win early and often. If not, he could be gone if things don't go our way.

The only way I see Lovie Smith not being the head coach of the Bears in 2013 is if he fails to make the playoffs in 2012. After all the personnel moves we made in both the coaching staff as well as getting the big name players at the skill positions and buttressing depth to the levels that we desperately need, a lot will be on Lovie's shoulders to at least make the playoffs this year. Frankly, this is going to be his most complete, talented team that he's even had, even over the 2006 Super Bowl team. This team is going to have a strong defense, the strongest in the NFC North in fact, plus they'll have special teams. Finally, we will have come into the 21st Century in terms of offense, which will be great.

In that, I agree with you: Lovie must get into the playoffs to keep his job. I think he keeps his job if he gets in as a Wild Card next year because we will then assume that the team is on the upswing and on its way to improving and becoming a championship contender. A division championship and at least one win over the Packers would make things even easier for him. If he gets that and he advances to the NFC Championship Game, win or lose, he gets a contract extension. And if he wins the NFC Championship Game and gets to the Super Bowl, win or lose, he'll be the coolest cat in Chicago and will be allowed to keep his job permanently. However, anything short of a playoff appearance would have disastrous effects on Lovie's tenure, and I just don't think that Emery nor the Bears' fans will suffer through another disappointing season when there is so much talent with which to work.

Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

I'm pulling for Lovie to make it Soul. As we've discussed in the past, he has come a long way as a head coach. Also I'm a big fan of the Tampa 2. I do not want to see the Bears going to a 3-4.

The 3-4 is a passing fad, for sure, BBPB. It seems that everyone, and I mean everyone, is going to it, Practically 3/4 of the AFC use this defense, and it's starting to spread on over to the NFC now. Just in the past three years, the Packers have begun using that defense. Dallas started using the 3-4 when Bill Parcells took the job there. The 49ers use the 3-4, too, if I'm not mistaken. But look at the AFC, now. They have the Steelers, the Patriots, the Ravens, the Jets, the Texans, the Dolphins, the Raiders, the Chargers, the Colts now I think are going to the 3-4, and I know the Chiefs are now utilizing the 3-4 defense. It seems to be catching on mostly in the AFC, for sure, while the NFC has largely remained 4-3 (Thank God). Like you, I fear that when Lovie is no longer coach of the Bears, he will look to bring in a coach who will revert to a 3-4 style of play.

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

I am in favor of what ever defense gets us to and through the playoffs. the 4-3, the 3-4 the 46, the 5-3 whatever.

I'd gladly go back to the 46.

Originally Posted by Dagan81

I'd gladly go back to the 46.

It was a joke Dags. You can't use it as a base set.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...the-46-defense

One of my readers wrote to me the other day, and wanted to know why we don’t see the old Bears' “46” defense anymore. As I started to reply to him, I thought that this would make for an interesting article for everyone to read.
Here is a bit of trivia before we get into how the 46 defense worked, and why we don’t see it much anymore: The name "46" Defense didn’t come from the alignment of the players on defense; it came from free safety Doug Plank, who wore jersey number 46, and was a hybrid free safety slash linebacker in Buddy Ryan’s system.
The basic idea of the 46 defense is that the defensive tackle lines up over the center, the other defensive tackle lines up over the right guard, and a defensive end lines up over the left guard. No defenders are placed over the offensive tackles, instead a defensive end is placed to the outside shoulder of the left tackle and old number “46”, who is a cross between a linebacker and a free safety, is placed to the outside shoulder of the right tackle.
Lined up on the outside of the defensive end, and the 46, you have two outside linebackers, giving you a seven man front, with the middle linebacker lined up right behind the defensive tackle, who is playing a 0 technique -- meaning he is lined up directly in front of the center.
In the secondary, you have two corners lined up on the outside receivers playing man, and the free safety playing zone in the deep middle.
This defense was so successful because of their ability to collapse the line, shutting down the run, and sacking the quarterback before he could get a pass off.
In 1984 this system produced 72 quarterback sacks, and in 1985, when they made their Super Bowl run, the defense had a six game streak, where, on average they only gave up 4.5 points per game, and during the playoffs only allowed 10 points over three games. This defense paved the way to their winning Super Bowl XX.
Buddy Ryan had great success with this system not only in Chicago, but also in Philadelphia. In Chicago, he had Dan Hampton lined up over center, and in Philadelphia, the defensive tackle over the center was the late, great, Reggie White.
Both of these men were so strong, and such excellent pass rushers, that they could collapse the offensive pocket by themselves, even when they were taking on two blockers. This allowed the rest of the defense to come crashing in on the the QB so quickly that he had no time to get the ball off.
Interestingly, Jeff Fisher, who played for Buddy Ryan, adopted the 46 defense for a while, as head coach of the Tennessee Oilers, who are now known as the Tennessee Titans.
The reason the 46 defense fell out of favor is that when it came to pass coverage, you only had three defensive backs to protect the whole field. It was designed to leave the cornerbacks in man coverage 90 percent of the time, while the FS was left on an island playing a deep zone. Not only did he have to protect the middle of the field against the deep pass, he also had to assist the two corner backs in pass coverage.
Sure, you can drop one or two linebackers into zone coverage, but this usually leads to mismatches when teams spread the defense out with more than two wide receivers, or match up a tight end against a linebacker.
The bottom line is, you’re trying to defend the pass with only three defensive backs. As the league became more and more pass happy, and the rules changed to favor the offense and the passing game, this system became less and less effective.
On top of that, for the 46 defense to really be successful, you need a Dan Hampton or Reggie White type lined up over the center. Those kind of guys are hard to come by. If you don’t have someone like that on your team, then your ability to collapse the pocket, before the quarterback can get the pass off, is greatly diminished.
Still, the 46 defense has its place in today’s game. It’s very effective when teams use compressed sets, where they line up with two backs in the backfield, and two or three tight ends (what's called a 22- or 23-personnel grouping respectively). The reason being, is that the 46 defense was designed to work against teams who use a lot of I formations and other sets where the defense is condensed. It’s just not meant to be a base defense in today’s game, where more and more teams use some version of the spread offense.
The 46 defense has not been lost, nor forgotten, just modified, and used more judiciously now, than it was 23 years ago.