Lovie Smith

[Zool]

He just called one of the games best coaches average and said their play calling was crap and that offensively they are terrible.

They put up 29 points per game while giving up 7.25 per game. That is a 21.75 point advantage per game. Thats more than 3 touchdowns and extra points.

Foolish, uneducated statement.

He's won 0 playoff games and he's one of the leagues best coaches? Their D puts the O in good positions most of the time and Rex is gambling and winning those gambles right now. They really should have lost to MN, but the Vikings O is stagnant and far too predictable right now.

I won't call Lovie one of the best head coaches in the league till he does something. If you want to talk about his ability to coach up a D then ok.

He has won a super bowl. He was a defensive coach down in Tampa, then went up to St. Louis when they won. They, he took the job with the Bears. It takes a time to field a quality team considering what he came in with, but he certainly has seemed to have turned it around.

I think they're good this year, but not their year. I think Seattle gets to the Super Bowl again.

I guess I took the point of this thread was Lovie and his HC abilities. As I said, he's a top D coach, not sure yet about him as a HC. He did get beat at home in the playoffs last year by 1 guy.

Bill Parcels, Mike Holmgren, Bill Belichich, Mike Shanahan, etc have all lost in the playoffs. I don't put much stock in him losing in his first playoff game as a HC.

But they have all since won many playoff games. You cant just KNOW Lovie will be good. Unless youre psychic...In which case, forget what I just thought.

[oregonpackfan]

I think Lovie is an average HC. The one thing he brings is what a lot of HC's don't have, an ability to make players believe in themselves and the system. His play calling is vanilla on both sides of the ball. What I would want from the Bears is their scouts for the defensive side of the ball. Face, offensively, they still suck. Even with Glassman putting up numbers...

Merlin,

You mentioned that Lovie's play-calling was "Vanilla" on both sides of the ball.

As a Packer fan since '59, I remember a Vanilla-playing Head Coach for the Green Bay Packers. His name was Vince Lombardi.

Lombardi rarely used trick offensive plays or elaborate defensive schemes. His main emphasis was to execute the play as efficiently as possible. If you exucute a play to the maximum extent, you don't need fancy, trick plays or formations.

I remember many opposing coaches and players lament, "We knew Starr was going to call for Hornung to carry the ball off right guard from the 2-yard line. We just couldn't counter the blocking nor stop Hornung!"

It is way too early to consider Lovie Smith to be in the same category as a Vince Lombardi. I say again, however, that he has impressed me very much as a head coach.

OPF

[Patler]

The Bears have seemingly gotten better each year under Smith. They certainly believe in themselves I can't think of a Bear who is "underperforming." He has handled players firmly and consistently. Sounds like a good coach to me.

I fear as a Packer fan we might be facing teams coached by Mr. Smith for many years to come.

[ahaha]

Of course he's a good coach. He took over a perrennial doormat and turned them into a legitemate Super Bowl contender in three years. Is he a great coach? No one knows yet, but that's only because he hasn't had a a real chance to prove himself. We'll see how he does in the play-offs the next few years.

[swede]

I would have been pleased to see Lovie Smith as a Green Bay HC.

I'd be UNHAPPY to have Brad Childress as Green Bay HC.

One is a man. The other is a weiner.

Truth be told, I was little envious of Chicago for hiring Lovie from the night of his first press conference. He seems like the kind of guy that inspires players to prepare with pride and play with heart.

On the other hand Childress makes me laugh and want to know if the owner is kidding. The real new coach is behind the door waiting to jump out and say, "gotcha!" right?

[FritzDontBlitz]

He just called one of the games best coaches average and said their play calling was crap and that offensively they are terrible.

They put up 29 points per game while giving up 7.25 per game. That is a 21.75 point advantage per game. Thats more than 3 touchdowns and extra points.

Foolish, uneducated statement.

i wouldn't say lovie is one of the game's best coaches yet. the bears are definitely a good team that's having a great year so far, but i will wait to see what they do in the postseason before i start calling lovie great.

and the only reason i would have loved to see lovie in green bay is because he would have brought a much better defensive scheme than the b.s. the packers are running right now. the packers haven't had a solid defensive scheme since holmgren took fritz with him to seattle...

[Patler]

I would have been pleased to see Lovie Smith as a Green Bay HC.

I'd be UNHAPPY to have Brad Childress as Green Bay HC.

One is a man. The other is a weiner.

Truth be told, I was little envious of Chicago for hiring Lovie from the night of his first press conference. He seems like the kind of guy that inspires players to prepare with pride and play with heart.

On the other hand Childress makes me laugh and want to know if the owner is kidding. The real new coach is behind the door waiting to jump out and say, "gotcha!" right?

I agree on both accounts. I was glad the Vikings hired Childress, because I didn't want GB to hire him and I was afraid they would. Not sure why, but I've just never liked him.

When the Bears hired Smith, after his first couple days, my reactions was, "Oh crap!" I had the feeling he was exactly what the Bears needed.

[Guiness]

I think Lovie is showing that he's a good coach, but has yet to show he's a great coach.

The situation reminds me a little of Dungy after a few years with TB. Great D, winning games, hasn't proved he can coach a decent 'O'. I know they're scoring, but the defense is helping with that as well. I think time has shown that Dungy is simply a decent coach, not great.

We'll see. I'd say he's got too keep things rolling a bit before I hand the 'great' nomiker on him.

[Bossman641]

I'd call Lovie a good, not great coach. His teams have improved every year and they never seem to come out flat. He's definitely a great D coach, though.

[mraynrand]

I think you judge coaching by results - especially as a fan who can't see a lot of the inner workings. Lovie's getting results.

One thing that really helps a good coach is showing up after a team has absolutely sucked for a stretch of years and has accumulated at least some good players with high picks. You then use your high picks (a good coach influences a GM) to get the type of players you want, and make the (defense in this case) the way you want it. Clearly, Lovie has made the defense the way he wants it, and it is driving the whole show. When you keep giving your offense the ball, good things will happen.

It also helps Chicago to have an injury free year, and to return an entire team of starters on defense and the O-line. Injuries wil de-rail success no matter how good a coach you are (Just ask Sherman about 2002).

[swede]

I think you judge coaching by results - especially a fan who can't see a lot of the inner workings. Lovie's getting results.

One thing that really helps a good coach is showing up after a team has absolutely sucked for a stretch of years and has accumulated at least some good players with high picks. You then use your high picks (a good coach influences a GM) to get the type of players you want, and make the (defense in this case) the way you want it. Clearly, Lovie has made the defense the way he wants it, and it is driving the whole show. When you keep giving your offense the ball, good things will happen.

It also helps Chicago to have an injury free year, and to return an entire team of starters on defense and the O-line. Injuries wil de-rail success no matter how good a coach you are (Just ask Sherman about 2002).

Good points. They make me think about MM's situation.

I have nothing against MM and my MM arrow is currently pointing up.

But I don't anticipate that I would be broken-hearted if MM were to be fired should the team, say, go well under .500 in 2007. Hypothetically, I wonder how many coaches TT gets to fire before he gets fired himself? My guess is TT could survive MM's firing but would need to hit on a winner the next time 'round or he'd be done also.

The Bears.

Dallas.

Seattle.

Sometimes teams are bad for quite a while before they hit on the right combination of talent and coaching and start winning again. The talent pool is growing again in Green Bay but I'm not all enthusiastic that the coaching staff is the right group of coaches at the right time.

[Dabaddestbear]

I think Lovie is an average HC. The one thing he brings is what a lot of HC's don't have, an ability to make players believe in themselves and the system. His play calling is vanilla on both sides of the ball. What I would want from the Bears is their scouts for the defensive side of the ball. Face, offensively, they still suck. Even with Glassman putting up numbers...

Merlin are you serious?
you are the exception of most pack fans on this site for they dont tend to suck the Kool-aid as often.
You call having a top 5 offense and a top rated QB as a result of an offense sucking.
You my friend I am done with cuz you obviously have nothing left in that poor skull.

[RashanGary]

Great coach IMO.

He's got the players so that helps but he beleives in conditioning and high effort for 4 quarters. He runs a proven system, demands respect and effort and his guys play for him.

I'd take him over all but 5 coaches right now.

I can't say enough good things about Chicago right now but I think it might start crumbling down after this year so they better hit their window and win it now.

[Dabaddestbear]

He just called one of the games best coaches average and said their play calling was crap and that offensively they are terrible.

They put up 29 points per game while giving up 7.25 per game. That is a 21.75 point advantage per game. Thats more than 3 touchdowns and extra points.

Foolish, uneducated statement.

He's won 0 playoff games and he's one of the leagues best coaches? Their D puts the O in good positions most of the time and Rex is gambling and winning those gambles right now. They really should have lost to MN, but the Vikings O is stagnant and far too predictable right now.

I won't call Lovie one of the best head coaches in the league till he does something. If you want to talk about his ability to coach up a D then ok.

WTF!!!???
The defense is stopping the other team but the Bears offense has marched the entire field quite a few times this year. How would you account for all those yards they are getting in the passing game? You cant get them with a short field.
Its not that any team is predictable,its just that this D is just that good and getting better. Did you happen to see the Bears 5th round rookie DE get his 2nd and 3rd sack? This team has depth and is not backing down. They played a tough game against a division rival in the Dome so what. They gave u a TD on a INT and came right back and won!

take the glasses off my friend you are startng to sound ridiculous.

[Chubbyhubby]

Merlin, you're a moron.

Is there some software glitch that's causing everyone to be nasty to each other this weekend? What in hades is going on around here?

I think the reason everyone is at edge is that DABears looked awesome last night and our beloved Pack probably can't beat a junior varsity football team at the moment. Bear nation are calling this year's Bears club "SuperBowl Bound!"