Chicago Bears: 10 Worst Moments for the Bears During the Lovie Smith Era

With very few exceptions, an NFL head coach will have his time with a particular team dotted with poor decisions, second guessing, controversy and failure. Three-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick gained unwanted scrutiny during 2007's infamous "spygate" scandal, where the New England Patriots were found to have videotaped the New York Jets' coaches' signals during a game.

One of Vince Lombardi's first major decisions was to take quarterback Randy Duncan with the first overall pick in the 1959 draft. Duncan never played a down in the NFL, instead opting for a brief stint in the Canadian Football League, and then as a bench warmer in the AFL.

Since taking the job of head coach for the Chicago Bears in 2004, Lovie Smith has had some success, with three playoff appearances and a trip to the Super Bowl. He has had his share of failure, embarrassment and controversy as well during his tenure with the Bears.

Smith always seems to find his way into the hot seat in Chicago. Whether it's his tight-lipped press conferences that irritate Bears fans and reporters alike, or his questionable clock management skills, Smith faces great scrutiny, as most NFL head coaches do.

Here are the worst moments for the Bears during Love Smith's time under the headset in Chicago.

Bears' Faulty Equipment Excuse in 2011

The continuing story thread for the Bears' 2011 season is news that Jay Cutler is not receiving plays from the sideline quickly enough. Lip readers saw Cutler claim that "this is (expletive) embarrassing" on a national broadcast during Week 4.

During two separate interviews after the Week 5 loss to Detroit, Kellen Davis and Mike Martz claimed that the Bears have had equipment issues for a couple of years, and that's the reason Cutler is not getting plays relayed to his helmet's earpiece.

The first issue is whether this is just a cover-up to hide the incompetence of a coaching staff that cannot think of a play in 35 seconds during an NFL game. This could also be a further indication that the team is not prepared on Sunday because they burn their timeouts almost without fail every week.

Another problem is that here is a billion-dollar franchise that is apparently using communication equipment purchased from Walgreens. Perhaps somebody at Halas Hall could invest in a more efficient system, if this equipment excuse is, in fact, truly the problem. It would also benefit Jay Cutler and the Bears if they simplified the offense if they can't accomplish something as basic as signaling what plays need to be run.

The Bears' 2004 Offense

In Lovie Smith's first season as head coach of the Bears, the team struggled mightily on offense. Terry Shea was named offensive coordinator after three successful seasons with Kansas City. The Bears also signed Kansas City's backup quarterback, Jonathan Quinn, apparently at the urging of Shea.

While finishing 5-11, the Bears finished dead last in offense, with staggering inefficiency. The Bears utilized a clown car carousel at quarterback, which included Quinn, who had the footwork of a buoy at sea, rookie Rex Grossman, Chad Hutchinson and Craig Krenzel.

The Bears managed to score just 231 points, while gaining 3,816 yards, averages of just 14 points and 238 yards per game. By comparison, the best offensive team of 2004, the Indianapolis Colts, put up 32 points and 404 yards per game. 

The historically bad offense, along with injuries, led to a poor showing in Smith's first season with the Bears, and the dismissal of Shea after only one year in Chicago.

Goal Line Issues in 2010

In 2010, the season got off to a wild start against the Lions in Week 1. The Bears racked up 463 yards of offense and got past Detroit only after an apparent touchdown by Calvin Johnson was ruled incomplete at the end of the game.

It was a game that perfectly encapsulated the Bears' 2010 season. The Bears were on the receiving end of good luck and fortune all season, constantly facing teams' second- and third-string quarterbacks, due to injury. They also seemed to win games, despite head coach Love Smith's poor decisions and inept clock management.

The low point of the game was the Bears' inability to punch it in at the goal line. In the fourth quarter, the Bears' Lance Briggs caused the Lions' backup quarterback Shaun Hill to fumble at the Detroit 1-yard line. During the next four plays, the Bears called Matt Forte's number three times and had an incomplete pass.

There were several problems with this series, which was emblematic of Lovie Smith's struggles with in-game strategy. After no gains on the first three plays of the series, a chip-shot field goal would have given the Bears the lead in the fourth quarter at home. Instead, Smith burned a timeout to think about it, leaving the Bears with only one timeout left.

After going for it on fourth down, Smith could have challenged the play, as it looked like Forte may have pushed passed the goal line. Instead, Detroit took over on downs, leaving Bears fans frustrated and the network broadcasters puzzled by Smith's decisions.

2006 NFC Divisional Playoff Game vs the Carolina Panthers

Led by an effective Rex Grossman, who returned from injury late in 2005, the Bears drew the Carolina Panthers in the NFC divisional playoff. Earlier in the season, the Bears had handled Carolina at home, and were favorites going into the playoff contest.

Carolina's passing attack dominated the Bears, as the Panthers took a 16-7 lead into halftime. Despite wide receiver Steve Smith scoring on a 58-yard strike on the second play of the game, Lovie Smith and defensive coordinator Ron Rivera made no apparent adjustments to contain Smith. This continued after the halftime break, as Smith caught a 39-yard touchdown from Jake Delhomme, sealing the game for Carolina.

Steve Smith wound up with 12 catches for 218 yards, and seemed wide open on almost every catch. In what was the first high-profile example of Lovie Smith's stubbornness, his unwillingness to admit a poor game plan for Smith, and his lack of halftime adjustments began to plant seeds of doubt in Bears fans' minds for years to come.

"Rex Is Our Quarterback."

Before Jay Cutler arrived in Chicago, it was well known that the best quarterback in town is always the backup quarterback. For a team that had not seen a dominant quarterback in more than 50 years, quarterback controversies were an annual rite of autumn.

The Bears sat atop the NFC North at 9-2 in 2006 after a tough loss to the New England Patriots, in what was a very winnable game against the defending Super Bowl champions. It was apparent that the Bears had Super Bowl talent on both sides of the ball, but a championship run was being put in jeopardy by the inconsistent play of Rex Grossman.

After a hot start in 2006, Grossman began turning the ball over at an alarming rate, and his fumble near the Patriots' goal line in Week 12 was the last straw for Bears fans.

Although the Bears had a very capable backup in Brian Griese, Smith refused to add fuel to any quarterback controversy, repeating his infamous mantra of "Rex is our quarterback."

Super Bowl XLI

All of the cracks in the Bears' armor became evident in Super Bowl XLI. The Indianapolis Colts exploited every Bears weakness and soundly beat Chicago, taking home the Lombardi trophy.

Smith's loyalty to Grossman in 2006 ended with two crucial Grossman interceptions, including a pick-six by the Colts' Kelvin Hayden to seal the game. Grossman also fumbled twice under the wet conditions in Miami.

Indianapolis countered the Bears' cover 2 defense with short passes and 191 rushing yards. The Bears made no apparent halftime adjustments, as Peyton Manning continued to shred the defense with short, effective plays.

Lovie Smith's famous proclamation that the Bears would get off the bus running at the Super Bowl did not come to fruition. Despite holding a 14-6 lead in the second quarter, the Bears abandoned the run after the Colts scored their first touchdown, putting the ball and the Bears' Super Bowl in Rex Grossman's shaky hands.

The Squib Kick

In Week 6 of the 2008 season, the Bears had an apparent victory in hand after Kyle Orton hit Rashied Davis for a 17-yard touchdown with only 11 seconds left on the clock.The Bears led the Atlanta Falcons 20-19.

The Bears chose to utilize the squib kick to avoid a big play by Atlanta, who earlier in the game had had an 85-yard return by Jerious Norwood. The Falcons returned Robbie Gould's kickoff to the Atlanta 44-yard line. Rookie quarterback Matt Ryan threw a beautiful sideline pass to Michael Jenkins, putting them into field goal range.

Jason Elam gave Atlanta the victory with a 48-yard field goal, and the Bears left the field stunned, having lost on a rare Chicago special teams miscue.

Cincinnati Bengals 45 Chicago Bears 10

The Bears still had some hope for a successful season before their Week 7 game with the Bengals in 2009. A 3-2 record, which included a great win over the defending champion Steelers, had Bears fans hoping for a road victory over Cincinnati, who was off to a hot start with former Bears' first-round bust, Cedric Benson.

Benson and the Bengals completely destroyed Chicago, racking up 215 rushing yards, led by Benson, who ran hard, and right through the Bears. Carson Palmer did the rest, throwing for five touchdowns and putting the Bengals up at halftime 31-3.

The loss signaled the coming of another dismal losing season, three years removed from the Bears' Super Bowl run of 2006.

Lovie's Red Flag Abuse

Since 2009, Lovie Smith has a coach's challenge success rate of 17%. Take any period during Smith's career in Chicago, and you will see an alarmingly low challenge success rate.

One reason for the poor results could be Smith's view of challenges as a tool to try to reverse a game-changing play. If something bad happens to the Bears during a crucial part of the game, Smith will throw the flag. This is fine, in theory, except Smith's Bears are notorious for using all of their allotted timeouts seemingly before the first series of the game is over.

On the other side of the challenge fence is Smith's failure to reach for the red flag when a referee's decision was clearly wrong. The Bears evidently have no practical system of judging when to challenge a play, which is laughable in today's NFL.

2011 NFC Championship Game

The Bears' 2010 season of good fortune ended in in the NFC Championship Game against their rivals, the Green Bay Packers.

Lovie Smith and the Bears did not stack up to the Packers' organization in many ways during the 21-14 loss.

Smith's decision to defer and give the Packers the ball on the opening kickoff was ridiculous, considering the Packers were on a historic playoff run, led by a high-powered offense.

Green Bay displayed their depth and skill at talent evaluation by fielding a team which had 15 Packers on injured reserve during 2010.

The Bears' reliance on Jay Cutler was more apparent after he went down with a knee injury during the game. How any coach could make Todd Collins a second-string quarterback in the NFL is mind-boggling. Precious game clock was wasted on Collins, who could barely complete a rushing play.

The Bears, as an organization, poorly handled the postgame controversy regarding Cutler's injury. Some public relations skill could have shielded Cutler from unfair scrutiny and the offseason-long questioning of his toughness.