Bears Fire Lovie Smith

[TexMex]

Other notable departures - Andy Reid, Mike tannenbaum (JETS GM), Norv Turner, Romeo Crennel.

John Gruden has some options.

[ChicosBailBonds]

So if the Packers beat the Vikings yesterday and the Bears made it, does he get fired?

[Goose]

As a Packer fan I wish they would keep him around!

[hairy worthen]

As a Packer fan I wish they would keep him around!

You are under estimating the Bears ability to hire soneone worse than Lovie

[ATWizJr]

So if the Packers beat the Vikings yesterday and the Bears made it, does he get fired?

nope. 

[Goose]

Hairy


True point, but why roll the dice? I'm a big Lovie backer!!!

[Blackhat]

Hiring Mike Tice to be a first time OC for him was head scratching.   Should have kept Martz if he was going to do that.

[MerrittsMustache]

So if the Packers beat the Vikings yesterday and the Bears made it, does he get fired?

Maybe. Emery is new and likely wants to bring in his own guy. If the Bears went to San Fran and got waxed in the Wild Card game, Lovie would have been out.

[Lennys Tap]

So if the Packers beat the Vikings yesterday and the Bears made it, does he get fired?

Not until next Monday.

[damuts222]

So if the Packers beat the Vikings yesterday and the Bears made it, does he get fired?

Maybe. Emery is new and likely wants to bring in his own guy. If the Bears went to San Fran and got waxed in the Wild Card game, Lovie would have been out.

  Virginia McCaskey is no longer making decisions for the Bears. As a Bears fan I think he would have been fired regardless. However the next few moves will be very interesting to determine the Bears path for the team. Our defense is old, we have a QB who is going into the final year of his contract, we have no offensive line and need to get rid of every WR not named Marshall or Jeffery. Whether they decide to clean out the old and in with the new will be very interesting.

[Dr. Blackheart]

This is a sign the Bears are going to a rebuild and Lovie wasn't the choice. Most likely the end of Urlacher in Bears' uniform as well.  They are clearly going to build around the offense now with the next hire...to join the rest of the league.

[NavinRJohnson]

So if the Packers beat the Vikings yesterday and the Bears made it, does he get fired?

Not today, but absolutely, yes. Unless they went to the Super Bowl, he was not coming back.

[tower912]

9-7 and fired.    WTH.  There aren't that many good coaching candidates out there.    Cowher, Gruden, Chip Kelly, Saban and......

[Blackhat]

Wouldn't be surprised to see another team pick up Smith and Reid for HC positions.

[Blackhat]

9-7 and fired.    WTH.

You had it right they were 10-6, but most wins were from their hot start.

[tower912]

Ya know, I heard all day yesterday they were 10-6, and after posting, read something on a local site that said 9-7 and suddenly questioned it.   Oops. 

[Dish]

Lovie only would have been back with a NFC title game appearance. Decision to fire Lovie was made weeks ago, I've confirmed.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Dish--when 8-1, what was going on with the Lovie extension talks?

[jsglow]

Not very surprised.  9 years as coach; 1 playoff appearance in last 6 years.  Not sure a Packers win yesterday would have saved his job.  No guarantee that the Bears won't take a step back.  The defense is getting very old and the offense has about 2-3 players to build around.  I'll expect Cutler back next year, but maybe not the year after that.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Dish--when 8-1, what was going on with the Lovie extension talks?

Nothing.

[Dish]

Once the season started, there were no contract talks. Bears had a standing 2 yr extension on table from preseason, which didn't have much of an increase. Lovie wanted to wait until the end of the season to re-negotiate.

[RushmoreAcademy]

Emery said it was based on 1. Lack of consistent playoff appearances and 2. Offensive ineptitude.  It's hard to argue with either of those. The Bears haven't even ranked in the top 2/3rds of the league in O under Smith, with the exception of maybe 1 year.
My biggest gripes with Lovie would have to be being really poor at hiring coordinators, and being insistent on Hester being a #1. Part of the latter is Angelo's fault, but a lot of that falls on the coach to say, hey, this isn't working, but Lovie kept riding it.
As a Bear fan I actually don't dislike Lovie. The Bears had a lot of success under him, and were always competitive and fun to watch, but it was time for a change, no doubt.

I will say that it seems like over the course of the last 10 years or so, it has seemed like the Bears, more than most teams, have pulled games out of the their asses, and won more games that they were supposed to lose than other teams.  That's probably just dumb luck, but I'll give Lovie a little credit.

[TexMex]

I will say that it seems like over the course of the last 10 years or so, it has seemed like the Bears, more than most teams, have pulled games out of the their asses, and won more games that they were supposed to lose than other teams.  That's probably just dumb luck, but I'll give Lovie a little credit.

Also why I enjoy watching the bears so much. I definitely don't feel all the Lovie hate is warranted. Nor did I hate Grossman back in 06. They brought us to superbowl man. Prior to that we hadn't even been close to sniffing the playoffs from what I can remember.

Lovie will find  a new job and the bears will continue to be contenders in the NFC.