The Coaching Carousel: Jump On, Everyone!
Wanted to take a quick minute to run through the various coaching changes we could be looking at after the year. Dependent on how we finish the season, we could have a completely new coaching staff. I’ll run down the possibilities of Lovie and/or Ron leaving us and hypothesize on what will most likely happen.
Lovie Smith
Status: Relatively safe if team wins against Rams and Lions.
Reasons for staying: A horrific contract. If he wasn’t owed so much money, he would most likely be fired after the 2009 campaign.
Reasons for going: Jumped on the grenade last year to save his BFF Bob Babich. It was a risky decision. However, the defense has struggled against good teams (Cincinnati, Cardinals, Vikings) and done OK, at best, against iffy teams (Seattle, SF).
How it could change: As much as I hate to admit it, Lovie will probably stay at least until the end of the 2010 season. However, a few issues play in here: If we lose four of our last five, Lovie could be booted to the curb. Not only that, but Bill Cowher has openly talked about wanting to take the Chicago job. Can the McCaskey’s really pass up that opportunity?
Ron Turner
Status: Start packing now, young fella.
Reasons for staying: He and Lovie are BFF (Ed. note: Two BFF’s?!!).
Reasons for going: Not wasting my breath explaining why he’s bad.
How it could change: If a snowball can survive in hell, then Ron will stay as OC for the 2010 season.
Most Likely Scenarios
- Lovie stays as the Bears head coach and fires Ron Turner.
The more I think about this situation, the more I dread it. Why? Lovie has a tendency to use St. Louis players/personnel (see: Orlando Pace, Adam Archuleta). Mike Martz is available, which makes my skin crawl thinking about him coaching our offense.
Jay Cutler would have to learn a completely new offense, and it really wouldn’t make a bit of difference anyways. If Sir Jay doesn’t have protection up front, it doesn’t matter what offensive scheme we run; we won’t be able to run the ball and Jay will end up with 350-lbs angry men landing on top of him. Again.
- Lovie and Co. are fired and replaced by Bill Cowher
I know, I know. John Clayton said today that the Bears haven’t contacted Cowher or any member of his family, posse, etc. Thanks for that investigative work, John! What is Cowher going to say, “Yeah, I talked with Ted the other day about taking the reins. What’s it to ya?” No, of course not.
A name as tantalizing as Bill Cowher can’t be discarded so easily. He’ll have his pick of coaching jobs, but the only ones he reportedly wants are the Bears and Texans.
Lovie is owed a lot of money, but it is clear that he’ll most likely be fired at the end of the 2010 campaign anyways. Why wait? Clean house and bring in Cowher. Not only will that get the angst and anger of Bears Nation off the Bears’ management, it’ll be a legitimately exciting hire. Another Bear for the city to wrap its collective arms around.
If you want this scenario to play out, you better hope for a lot of losses to close out this season. And, the way we’re currently playing, that’s certainly attainable.
More from Blog Down, Chicago Bears
- Jamar Williams Signs His Tender, Jerry Angelo Expects Even More Changes, And Clearly, Greg Olsen And Vince Vaughn Are Best Friends Forever
- With Death Creeping In, Michael McCaskey To Retire
- Devin Aromashodu’s Ceiling, Embracing Your Legends, And Where The Bears’ Average Age Ranks Amongst Other NFL Teams
Bill Cowher talked about wanting the Bears job? I hadn’t read that yet – you ought to post the link, although it is only going to make me more frustrated when the Bears ignore Cowher to stick with Lovie.
I really think the Bears need to eat Lovies contract, I don’t think he can turn us around. He Tampa 2 scheme is old and tired and needs to go. Picking up WR Gaines Adams to play DE doesn’t look like a great move as of right now either. It’s time to call that show Overhaul and see if the Bears can get on it.
Dr. J – http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears/post/_/id/4663552/cowher-interested-in-bears
Ditka – I’m starting to agree. I was always a Lovie supporter, but I’m starting to tire of the ol’ routine.
Gavin- I liked Lovie at first as well, however he just hasn’t produced the wins necessary to keep my love since going to the Superbowl. Also as a side note I guess it’s better to be a Lovie supporter than an athletic supporter.
LOL! Yeah…I totally agree. After Cowher said that he was interested, I hopped off the Lovie bandwagon. I’d rather have Cowher in a heartbeat…I don’t even think that I’d bat an eye before I answered.
I was listening to a real moron on the radio this morning and he was saying barring a complete collapse the bears will not fire lovie,but excuse my french but what the hell do you call what happened this year,this is a collapse and probably the worst i seen the bears defense since the 2002 season,and who is our d coach no other than lovie smith,i cant believe im saying this but bring back bob babich, i thought the reason why we got lovie is because he was a great def coach,what is the point of keeping him,fire him asap,it will generate more money in sales anyway
I also liked what lovie pulled off during his first couple of years. that awesome 8 game win streak in 05 was thoroughly entertaining to watch. defense was well above average and guys were playing with abandon. like others have said though, lovie’s time is done here. cover-who is clearly outdated and it seems clear that a lot of players aren’t putting forth the effort needed anymore. how amazingly amazing and unbearlike would it be if they did in fact show lovie the door and brought in a guy like cowher with real nfl head coaching credentials? it’d be even better than the return of the honeybears.