McCashkeys Need No Urging To Keep Lovie Smith As Bears Head Coach

LAKE FOREST— Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris expressed the viewpoint on coach Lovie Smith’s future held by every player in the team’s locker room.

“I know he’ll be back,” Harris said Wednesday. “He deserves every reason to; we just went to the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.

“He’s done some great things and Monday night everybody played their heart out and we’re going to do the same on Sunday.”

When it comes down to it, the Bears’ 36-30 overtime win over the Minnesota Vikings probably saved Smith’s job.

Players think the matter of retaining Smith goes beyond one victory over the NFC North champs.

“His scheme, what he believes in, and also his players,” Harris said. “The players believe in him, he’s got great players that play well and guys play hard for him.

“I just think he believes in what he teaches and he sticks with it, that’s what makes him great.”

The same could be said about plenty of fired coaches in NFL history, though. In 2003, Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, and Olin Kreutz made the exact same case for coach Dick Jauron.

It made no difference. Jauron got fired because Jerry Angelo wanted his own coach in place and got it.

Now, the simple and plain truth behind it all is the team’s McCaskey ownership never did want to eat $11 million by dispatching Smith, and Monday’s win gave them exactly the argument they needed to keep him.

This may not be what the majority of Bears fans want to hear.

Immediately following the win, Smith was peppered with questions from reporters about why the team could look so good one night and then look disinterested, unmotivated, and unprepared in four blowout losses. That’s the kind of questioning which deserves an answer, but all it drew were some shrugging and a few platitudes.

The Bears might be a community trust of sorts, but the ultimate decision makers are the McCaskeys and it’s very apparent from the comments and actions they’ve leaked over the past few weeks that they just needed something, anything to use as ammunition to keep from wasting their $11 million investment in Smith.

Jay Cutler and Devin Aromashodu gave it to them Monday.

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo had said prior to the Baltimore Ravens game that the way the team played in the final three games was important. When they stunk it up against the Ravens, he was livid. He was sitting behind reporters that day in the press box and fighting to keep from erupting.

If they had come out and played poorly against Minnesota, then a good argument could have been made for firing Smith regardless of what happened against Detroit this Sunday. Now the mere fact that the team is still together behind Smith enough to beat a team many think will play in the Super Bowl is certainly argument enough for the powers that be.

This is not a team that has quit. At least it wasn't Monday. It's hard to see them going to Detroit and stinking it up against the team Matt Millen wrecked.

"He's always been able to keep us together," LB Lance Briggs said of Smith. "That's never been a problem with him.

"Lovie is great with keeping us together as a unit no matter the problems or anything that's going on."

Even an unlikely loss to Detroit couldn't really derail Smith. Now he has the perfect excuse of injuries.  

The Bears are missing their best cornerback, Charles Tillman, due to broken ribs and a lung contusion. When they had Zach Bowman guarding Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson in the first game against Detroit, he had five catches for 119 yards. He then made only three catches for 14 yards when Tillman got moved to cover him.

They also lost wide receiver Johnny Knox, who actually sprained both ankles in the game Monday and defensive tackle Israel Idonije (foot injury).

While it would be difficult to see Smith getting fired, the same is not necessarily true for offensive coordinator Ron Turner and his staff.

Quarterback Jay Cutler has repeatedly been given the opportunity to back Turner and never has fully given such support. On Wednesday, he again found a way to express dislike for the Bears’ current offense.

Cutler was gushing about how well the moving pocket fits his game and was asked by reporters why the Bears hadn’t used it much prior to Monday night.

"This offense, sometimes it’s geared for it, sometimes it’s not with our power running game and more downhill style," Cutler said. "It’s not really that zone [blocking], getting everyone to move and get outside the pack. But there are definitely times and places for it, and we’ve tried dialing it up as much as possible."

A true zone blocking scheme like Cutler had in Denver would be ideal for getting misdirection going on bootleg passes so he can get out in the open on the move, or for using play-action passes and moving Cutler around.

That’s not what they’re getting now.

One of the chief arguments against bringing in a new offensive coordinator and system is the fact Cutler would be playing in his third offensive system in three years, which is never good. But even Smith wouldn't call this a bad thing Wednesday when asked whether it could be a problem.

"In an ideal world, of course, you would like to be like Peyton Manning, be in one system the entire time," he said. "Most of the time from high school to college, college to the NFL, guys normally don’t have that luxury. But when you go from system to system, a lot of times it’s just [different] terminology that you’re dealing with."

Turner has one year left on his contract but offensive coordinators’ salaries are a lot easier to eat than $11 million worth of head coaching salary.

The cash-wise move here is dumping Turner and bringing in someone with an offensive system that uses zone blocking and is more conducive to the skills of a quarterback who just got a contract extension that includes $30 million of new money.

Money talks, especially with the McCaskeys.

Or is it McCash-keys?