No doubt it’s been a rough year so far for Bears defensive coordinator Bob Babich. The Bears defense has gone from elite to above average since he took over for now Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera. Sure, factors not under his control, like key injuries to the secondary, must account for some reason to why the defense is vaunted no more. But don’t tell me the discrepancy in performance from 2006 to now isn’t mainly due to Babich being totally ill-prepared. Because it is.

I mean, when another coach who knows you says, “It was sure a surprise. Obviously he knew somebody on that staff — that’s the first thing I thought“, in response to you landing a job with the St. Louis Rams, something ain’t right.

What’s funny is, Babich did, in fact, know somebody on that staff — then defensive coordinator Lovie Smith. Not to discredit the merit of the hire, but Babich had gone 2-8 the previous year as head coach of Division II North Dakota State, and Babich did accept Smith’s son into the NDSU program after he transferred from Arizona. But whatever.

The only thing that matters is that Babich gets his shit together. I don’t know what that entails; call different plays, mix up packages, gain more respect from your players. Whatever it means, two things are for certain:  our defense was much better under Rivera, and he ain’t coming back.