Morrissey from the Trib on Lovie...

[madlithuanian]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...,3500978.column

 

Past time for some tough Lovie

Rick Morrissey | In the wake of the news

August 25, 2008

 

Is this how Lovie Smith wants to go out? As friend to the players? As the Great Enabler?

 

Does he want his professional tombstone to read: He got off the bus refusing to throw anybody under the bus?

 

If Smith doesn't do something about it soon, a combination of bad football and a culture of unaccountability is going to be his undoing as the Bears' coach.

 

Forget the bad apples he used to support at every turn and at every pretrial hearing. This isn't about that. This is about the most unpardonable sin in pro football: Smith's players aren't playing hard for him. And he's to blame.

 

When the head coach acts at all times as if everything is cool, even when it's not, it's not surprising that his players follow suit.

 

And so Bears starters approach exhibition games with a shrug and a roll of the eyeballs. Linebackers can't or won't get off blocks. Defensive linemen and defensive backs miss tackles. No big deal. The Bears will show up when the games really matter.

 

Just like last season.

 

The defensive starters whom Smith protects like a mother Bear respond by playing as if their next meal doesn't depend on it.

 

Why should they put everything on the line when they know their coach will shield them in his public comments? Smith has misread the modern professional athlete in a very fundamental way. They know how to take, but they don't like to give. It's why a head coach has to demand a lot. If it's not demanded, it won't be received.

 

Last week a radio guy solemnly declared that Smith's anger was clear the day after the Bears' lazy starting defense got abused by the 49ers, who had the worst offense in the league last season. Do you know what Smith said?

 

He said the defense was bad.

 

It's the kind of penetrating analysis we've come to expect from the Lovester.

 

"But we won't point fingers," he said. "We'll make the corrections, and we'll play better defense."

 

Just like last season.

 

After three years of getting patted on the back by Smith, the players have an outsized sense of their worth. They also have dents in their backs.

 

Mike Brown gets it. You can always count on the safety to say what the head coach should have said. Problem is, you can't count on Brown's body to hold up. But attributing the San Francisco debacle to the meaninglessness of an exhibition game is a bad excuse, Brown insisted.

 

If you have a leader who concocts alibis for you, who tells you how good you are at every turn, who ignores the facts ... well, bad things tend to happen.

 

Sometimes you get the feeling Smith spends his spare time checking up on his Facebook friends, Tommie and Peanut and Lach.

 

He has to change. He still thinks it's 2006, when the Bears made it to the Super Bowl and his defense was trying to tell the world why it was as good as the '85 Bears. It wasn't.

 

And now his team is looking down the barrel of a sub-.500 season, which is a nice way of saying the Bears likely are going to be bad.

 

It's a given that Jerry Angelo, despite his personnel gaffes, isn't going anywhere. General managers generally are the last to go. So that leaves Lovie.

 

In response to the 49ers game, Smith said he's going to run "training-camp-style practices" this week. The man is a taskmaster, isn't he? Bear in mind that this still is the preseason and therefore the team technically still is in training camp, just not in Bourbonnais. But will there be real, live tackling in the training-camp-style practices this week? God forbid, no.

 

Everything is good at Halas Hall, other than, you know, the bad football. The defensive coordinator Smith inherited, Ron Rivera, the one the players respected so much? Ousted 18 months ago in favor of Smith's old buddy, Bob Babich. No more distractions because of Rivera, who was popular with the media and who was a perennial head-coaching candidate. So he's gone, along with that great defense the Bears used to have.

 

Remember what Smith said with a knowing look when he decided not to bring back Rivera? Trust him, he said.

 

We'll give Babich a little more time. We'll go along with Smith's excuse that injuries decimated the defense last season, even though people get hurt every year on every team in the NFL. If the defense doesn't turn around, it's on Babich.

 

And thus on Smith.

 

If things don't change, he'll soon be able to look at his scrapbook, point to a player, any player, and say, "That guy really liked me. He helped cost me my job by not playing up to his abilities, but he really liked me!"

 

That will be Smith's legacy. Trust me.

 

rmorrissey@tribune.com

[azbearsfan]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...,3500978.column

 

Past time for some tough Lovie

Rick Morrissey | In the wake of the news

August 25, 2008

 

Is this how Lovie Smith wants to go out? As friend to the players? As the Great Enabler?

 

Does he want his professional tombstone to read: He got off the bus refusing to throw anybody under the bus?

 

If Smith doesn't do something about it soon, a combination of bad football and a culture of unaccountability is going to be his undoing as the Bears' coach.

 

Forget the bad apples he used to support at every turn and at every pretrial hearing. This isn't about that. This is about the most unpardonable sin in pro football: Smith's players aren't playing hard for him. And he's to blame.

 

When the head coach acts at all times as if everything is cool, even when it's not, it's not surprising that his players follow suit.

 

And so Bears starters approach exhibition games with a shrug and a roll of the eyeballs. Linebackers can't or won't get off blocks. Defensive linemen and defensive backs miss tackles. No big deal. The Bears will show up when the games really matter.

 

Just like last season.

 

The defensive starters whom Smith protects like a mother Bear respond by playing as if their next meal doesn't depend on it.

 

Why should they put everything on the line when they know their coach will shield them in his public comments? Smith has misread the modern professional athlete in a very fundamental way. They know how to take, but they don't like to give. It's why a head coach has to demand a lot. If it's not demanded, it won't be received.

 

Last week a radio guy solemnly declared that Smith's anger was clear the day after the Bears' lazy starting defense got abused by the 49ers, who had the worst offense in the league last season. Do you know what Smith said?

 

He said the defense was bad.

 

It's the kind of penetrating analysis we've come to expect from the Lovester.

 

"But we won't point fingers," he said. "We'll make the corrections, and we'll play better defense."

 

Just like last season.

 

After three years of getting patted on the back by Smith, the players have an outsized sense of their worth. They also have dents in their backs.

 

Mike Brown gets it. You can always count on the safety to say what the head coach should have said. Problem is, you can't count on Brown's body to hold up. But attributing the San Francisco debacle to the meaninglessness of an exhibition game is a bad excuse, Brown insisted.

 

If you have a leader who concocts alibis for you, who tells you how good you are at every turn, who ignores the facts ... well, bad things tend to happen.

 

Sometimes you get the feeling Smith spends his spare time checking up on his Facebook friends, Tommie and Peanut and Lach.

 

He has to change. He still thinks it's 2006, when the Bears made it to the Super Bowl and his defense was trying to tell the world why it was as good as the '85 Bears. It wasn't.

 

And now his team is looking down the barrel of a sub-.500 season, which is a nice way of saying the Bears likely are going to be bad.

 

It's a given that Jerry Angelo, despite his personnel gaffes, isn't going anywhere. General managers generally are the last to go. So that leaves Lovie.

 

In response to the 49ers game, Smith said he's going to run "training-camp-style practices" this week. The man is a taskmaster, isn't he? Bear in mind that this still is the preseason and therefore the team technically still is in training camp, just not in Bourbonnais. But will there be real, live tackling in the training-camp-style practices this week? God forbid, no.

 

Everything is good at Halas Hall, other than, you know, the bad football. The defensive coordinator Smith inherited, Ron Rivera, the one the players respected so much? Ousted 18 months ago in favor of Smith's old buddy, Bob Babich. No more distractions because of Rivera, who was popular with the media and who was a perennial head-coaching candidate. So he's gone, along with that great defense the Bears used to have.

 

Remember what Smith said with a knowing look when he decided not to bring back Rivera? Trust him, he said.

 

We'll give Babich a little more time. We'll go along with Smith's excuse that injuries decimated the defense last season, even though people get hurt every year on every team in the NFL. If the defense doesn't turn around, it's on Babich.

 

And thus on Smith.

 

If things don't change, he'll soon be able to look at his scrapbook, point to a player, any player, and say, "That guy really liked me. He helped cost me my job by not playing up to his abilities, but he really liked me!"

 

That will be Smith's legacy. Trust me.

 

rmorrissey@tribune.com

 

 

Well unfortunatly I agree with this. The thing I liked most about Lovie when he first got here was that he was preaching accountability. I dont think you can go from a soft coach (Jauron) to another soft coach. You need to switch styles. After JAuron the Bears needed an a hard core accountable guy. Lovie has become less and less hardcore every year and now I think is just like Jauron. The problem is that after awhile guys start to get lazy on him because they know that he will have their back no matter what. We really need to get a Cowher type in here.

[CrackerDog]

I don't think many here will argue with the main points of the article. But let's not forget that Morrissey is the new Skip Bayless of the paper. His job is to throw shit against the fan, piss people off and sell papers. Much of the critism of Lovie could be applied to 30 other coaches in the NFL. Only they haven't been nearly as successful as Lovie has in a short period of time.

 

I agree, I'd love to see him grab a facemask on the sideline and yell at someone, ONCE. I'd love to see him hold his coordinators more accountable. I think he's a quiet leader and his style has worked for the most part. But the article is right that, it appears, his guys are taking him for granted now, and he needs to use a little more "stick" than "carrot" at this point with this team.

[nfoligno]

Is Babich an in your face coach? I don't know. But reading your post made me think about this.

 

Rivera was very much an in your face coach. Players said that when they screwed up, Rivera let them know it immediatly, and often loudly. Is Babich that way?

 

I read all the time fans talking about this coach or that coach (often I read Landry mentioned), but let me ask this. What sort of assistants did those more stoic coaches have? I can see it working if you have a HC that is more calm and all, but only if that HC has assistants who are the opposite. The calm Captain still needs a loud drill sergeant. When we had Rivera under Lovie, I think it worked better. Lovie was calm, but had Rivera to sick on slackers. I could be wrong, but I don't think that is Babich's style. I thought Babich was more like Lovie, which means we don't have that drill sergeant, and that could be a big part of the problem.

 

No clue on offense, but I don't think it is the same situation. The defense is filled w/ proven veterans, which is simply a group that tends to get complacent. Younger, unproven players are less likely to need the drill sergeant, as they are working their butts off for roster spots, playing time, or whatever. Few on defense have to worry about losing their jobs, regardless how they play, and thus may need a bit of extra push from the staff. Lovie has never provided that. Rivera used to. Can Babich?

 

I don't think many here will argue with the main points of the article. But let's not forget that Morrissey is the new Skip Bayless of the paper. His job is to throw shit against the fan, piss people off and sell papers. Much of the critism of Lovie could be applied to 30 other coaches in the NFL. Only they haven't been nearly as successful as Lovie has in a short period of time.

 

I agree, I'd love to see him grab a facemask on the sideline and yell at someone, ONCE. I'd love to see him hold his coordinators more accountable. I think he's a quiet leader and his style has worked for the most part. But the article is right that, it appears, his guys are taking him for granted now, and he needs to use a little more "stick" than "carrot" at this point with this team.

[BigDaddy]

Is Babich an in your face coach? I don't know. But reading your post made me think about this.

 

Rivera was very much an in your face coach. Players said that when they screwed up, Rivera let them know it immediatly, and often loudly. Is Babich that way?

 

I read all the time fans talking about this coach or that coach (often I read Landry mentioned), but let me ask this. What sort of assistants did those more stoic coaches have? I can see it working if you have a HC that is more calm and all, but only if that HC has assistants who are the opposite. The calm Captain still needs a loud drill sergeant. When we had Rivera under Lovie, I think it worked better. Lovie was calm, but had Rivera to sick on slackers. I could be wrong, but I don't think that is Babich's style. I thought Babich was more like Lovie, which means we don't have that drill sergeant, and that could be a big part of the problem.

 

No clue on offense, but I don't think it is the same situation. The defense is filled w/ proven veterans, which is simply a group that tends to get complacent. Younger, unproven players are less likely to need the drill sergeant, as they are working their butts off for roster spots, playing time, or whatever. Few on defense have to worry about losing their jobs, regardless how they play, and thus may need a bit of extra push from the staff. Lovie has never provided that. Rivera used to. Can Babich?

 

That's a great question and we'll find out pretty soon but if he can't, my guess is his stay in Chicago will be a short lived one. But he'll probably have plenty of company.