Lovie Smith attacked a reporter on Wednesday when asked about the future of Mike Martz. Smith was very out-of-character and seemed almost offended by the question.
So it got me to thinking…how do we grade Lovie Smith? I’ve suggested in the past that Smith needed to go, but retracted that earlier this year. So I’m not going to windsock on this one, but Smith won’t get a free pass either for this season.
Regardless of the outcome Sunday, Smith witnessed one of the worst Bears’ collapses in franchise history. Losing Jay Cutler and Matt Forte obliviously contributed in a major way, but there were monumental mistakes that cost the Bears games after these two injuries. So the question becomes how much of this was Smith’s fault?
I’d argue that too many bad things happened on his watch. Blown coverages, offensive blunders and poor personnel decisions cannot be overlooked. One of his biggest faults is his lack of offensive involvement. He’s obviously a defensive guy, but rarely seems to hold his offensive players to the same standards as his defensive ones. As much as I dislike Chris Harris, he called out the organization for the lack of consistency in accountability for offensive and defensive players. This starts at the top and the buck stops with Smith. Maybe his assistant coaches are the problem, but he can’t remain blameless.
Smith earns a “D” for the season. It should have been an “A”.
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