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JoeyTourettes
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With the Bears playing their former coach this week- and ESPN's article about the Pros & Cons of the decision to replace Smith I thought I'd bring it to the board.
Here's the ESPN article:
Pros and cons of Bears' decision to fire Lovie Smith in 2012
ESPN doesn't really go into much detail after they list their points, I thought I would tackle some of the finer points. (*hey I've got the time now...and it's freakin raining)
What are your thoughts...as they say hidesite is 20/20
The abyss of OC's that Lovie brought in... ESPN goes on to list the names. What made me laugh is that the national narrative has been that "Jay Cutler is the coach killer" If Lovie was indeed brought back after 2012 he likely would have had to replace Tice... I simply doubt that anyone worth anything would have joined a sinking last chance season with the new GM (Emery) looking to bring in his own guy anyway. It likely would have been a one year deal. And yet another OC change for Cutler and company.
They hadn't made the playoffs in the past 5 seasons. And Lovie's act had worn thin with fans. It was simply time to move on. (moving on to Trestman was of course the WRONG move with Bruce Arians sitting in wait..but that's a different conversation)
Record/Injuries: The idea that this was a "10 WIN TEAM!!"... It's likely Lovie would have brought back Urlacher on a short contract. I truly don't think BU would have made that defense any better than it was. He probably deserved to go out on his own terms, but I think he would have joined the DL, Briggs, Peanut and others on the IR that season. That team was decimated by injuries and Brain wouldn't have been the difference.
For Offense... Olin & Garza? They lost Cutler for much of the season- where the "magic of McCown" became known... There is NO CHANCE in hell that McCown goes 13/1 TD to INT ratio with Lovie & Tice? as his coaches. Lovie Smith would not have won the 8 games that Trestman did... and would have been fired anyway. IMO
Lovie Smith got lucky... he took his year off, made $5+ million and was still thought of as a good coach. Thus getting the Tampa job. I feel that if he was kept for 2013 with that roster, and likely MORE of "his" guys Conte/Major Wright... I'm not sure he's given the Tampa job after watching his "great" defense get old and slow. The thought at the time the defense was collapsing was "Lovie wouldn't have let the D get this bad" and maybe they would have been slightly better than what Idiot Mel Tucker did...but the talent level, age and poor drafting would have affected Lovie Smith just as it did Mel Tucker. I'm guessing that he wouldn't have been hired as Tampa coach if that happened.
Conclusion: It was the right decision to let Lovie go at the time... They should have hired Arians, or ANYONE other than Trestman. But letting Lovie go was the right move for all involved.
Here's the ESPN article:
Pros and cons of Bears' decision to fire Lovie Smith in 2012
ESPN doesn't really go into much detail after they list their points, I thought I would tackle some of the finer points. (*hey I've got the time now...and it's freakin raining)
What are your thoughts...as they say hidesite is 20/20
The abyss of OC's that Lovie brought in... ESPN goes on to list the names. What made me laugh is that the national narrative has been that "Jay Cutler is the coach killer" If Lovie was indeed brought back after 2012 he likely would have had to replace Tice... I simply doubt that anyone worth anything would have joined a sinking last chance season with the new GM (Emery) looking to bring in his own guy anyway. It likely would have been a one year deal. And yet another OC change for Cutler and company.
They hadn't made the playoffs in the past 5 seasons. And Lovie's act had worn thin with fans. It was simply time to move on. (moving on to Trestman was of course the WRONG move with Bruce Arians sitting in wait..but that's a different conversation)
Record/Injuries: The idea that this was a "10 WIN TEAM!!"... It's likely Lovie would have brought back Urlacher on a short contract. I truly don't think BU would have made that defense any better than it was. He probably deserved to go out on his own terms, but I think he would have joined the DL, Briggs, Peanut and others on the IR that season. That team was decimated by injuries and Brain wouldn't have been the difference.
For Offense... Olin & Garza? They lost Cutler for much of the season- where the "magic of McCown" became known... There is NO CHANCE in hell that McCown goes 13/1 TD to INT ratio with Lovie & Tice? as his coaches. Lovie Smith would not have won the 8 games that Trestman did... and would have been fired anyway. IMO
Lovie Smith got lucky... he took his year off, made $5+ million and was still thought of as a good coach. Thus getting the Tampa job. I feel that if he was kept for 2013 with that roster, and likely MORE of "his" guys Conte/Major Wright... I'm not sure he's given the Tampa job after watching his "great" defense get old and slow. The thought at the time the defense was collapsing was "Lovie wouldn't have let the D get this bad" and maybe they would have been slightly better than what Idiot Mel Tucker did...but the talent level, age and poor drafting would have affected Lovie Smith just as it did Mel Tucker. I'm guessing that he wouldn't have been hired as Tampa coach if that happened.
Conclusion: It was the right decision to let Lovie go at the time... They should have hired Arians, or ANYONE other than Trestman. But letting Lovie go was the right move for all involved.
