With the start of NFL season in Chicago comes the annual "Fire Lovie Smith" chants from many fans.
But why?
Is it something to do with his personality, which is the antithesis of everything that the most beloved coach in Bears history of the past 30 years (DAAAAA COACH) represented?
Is it something to do with his in-game adjustments or use of challenges?
Is it just the nature of sports, when a team's fan base calls for a coach's head whenever they go a decent amount of time without a championship?
It couldn't have anything to do with race, could it?
It has to be one of these things, because it couldn't be about his record as a coach. Entering the 2011 season, Lovie sported a 63-49 record as the Bears coach in his 7 years at the helm. In this span, Lovie has won over half of the division championships in the division (4), made two conference championship games and one Super Bowl.
In the decade preceding Lovie's reign as head coach, the Bears mainly suffered through the Dick Jauron (1999-2003) and Dave Wannstedt (1993-1998) eras. In these 11 seasons, the Bears went to the playoffs twice, combining to go 75-101 between the two coaches.
I hear all the complaining about Lovie, but as a Niners fan, I have absolutely no sympathy for Bears fans. From 2004-2010, the Niners sport this amazing run of dominance:
2004: 2-14
2005: 4-12
2006: 7-9 (hey now! Let's not overachieve here!)
2007: 5-11 (that's more like it)
2008: 7-9
2009: 8-8
2010: 6-10
For those of you who can do math, that's a record of 39-73. In that time, we won exactly 0 conference championships, 0 division championships, 0 playoff games (hard to do when you make the playoffs ZERO times in that span) and are currently on our 4th coach since Lovie started. So please excuse me if I find this Lovie talk to be a tad annoying.
Does any Bears fan wanna trade for the Niners past 7 years in a straight-up deal? I'll gladly take what you have: a boring coach who has won 4 divisions for a team who has had 4 coaches and no playoff appearances.
I think a lot of Lovie's problem is that he is not Ditka and will always be compared to him. Lovie would need to win more than one Super Bowl for people to even consider him better than Ditka. The 1985 season will always be held up on a pedestal in the pantheon of sports seasons (in Chicago and nationwide), so Lovie (and any other future Bears coach) will never be able to escape that shadow.
I hope that the day Lovie is let go (or heaven forbid, RETIRES from the coaching profession as a Bears coach), that Bears fans can at least give the guy some credit for coaching many teams that not a whole lot of people expected much from and led them to success more often than not.
Because when they hire Dick Jauron or Dave Wannstedt Jr. (I hope Wannstedt didn't name a kid after himself, this is more for example's sake) to lead the team afterwards, you might be in for some cold winters as a Bears fan.
Note: If I don't respond to potential/inevitable criticism of this blog (whether it be on fb comments or in here), it's not that I am dismissing your comments. It's just that I don't know how else I could state my case beyond the above material that I could say any differently.
Week 3 college picks
I've made a few picks this week so far, going 1-1 between LSU -3.5 and Boise's first half line (+$20 combined). These two games bring my college season record to 4-1, +$140.
Notre Dame -5 (vs. Mich St) - $55 to win $50
Nebraska -17 (vs. Washington) - $55 to win $50
Illinois -2 (vs. Arizona St) - $55 to win $50
I may make more bets throughout the day. I'll try keeping them updated- may start updating my bets on my Twitter account (twitter.com/brianbolek - follow me @brianbolek).
Have a good day everyone. Make your Saturdays enjoyable and prosperous.
