The Chicago Bears: Committed to Mediocrity

*Warning Angry Rant* I wanted to write this before I calmed down, since I know that when I do I'll manage to talk myself into believing that somehow the Bears have a chance to be great next season, when really the Bears have just made a move that guarantees a losing record in 2010 already. That's right. Lovie Smith is back next season as the Bears Head Coach. Hit the jump for the bile.

The Bears - Committed to Mediocrity

WHAT THE HELL??!! In one fell swoop, Bears Management ensures another atrocious year to be a Bears fan. Oh well, it was a good 2010 while it lasted, huh guys? Well too bad, because we're doomed to at best another season at a barely sub-.500 record and at worst another 5-11 (or even lower) season under Lovie Smith. As we've seen this season, the Bears just flat out quit on Lovie Smith. Yes, they managed to finish the season at 7-9, but that number is artificially inflated by a win against the Lions (2-14) with Daunte Caulpepper starting as QB, and against the Vikings who completely fell apart against the Bears. But more than that, those wins came after the Bears were completely eliminated from the postseason so there were completely fucking useless wins since we don't even hold our first or second round picks thanks to Jerry Angelo (who also kept his job for some inexplicable reason).

This is complete and utter bullshit. There's no other way to say it other than that. The Bears missed the playoffs for the third straight year in a row since LOSING the Super Bowl, and it is the 4th time in 6 seasons that the Bears didn't make the playoffs. In fact, since losing the Super Bowl Lovie Smith has gone 23 - 25, which is two games worse than the stretch Jon Gruden went before the Bucs fired him a couple years ago. This is all about money, because the Bears would much rather not pay serious money to two coaches and would rather take the chance that somehow with the same coach and system in place, the Bears will miraculously get better despite how bad they looked this season. And they looked BAD this year, losing 4 games by 20 points or more during a stretch that saw them go 2-8 and stumble their way out of the playoffs when good teams were making themselves known. The Bears were making themselves known too, as a disgrace to football once again. The teams that they beat went a combined 36 - 76 this season, and if you don't count the fluke victory against the 12-4 Vikings, that brings the record down to 24-72 or 0.250 for the season. Except the Vikings, the only team the Bears beat that had won more than 5 games this season was the 9-7 Steelers (who the Bears needed their kicker to fall apart at the end of the game). The records of their other "victories":

• Seattle: 5-11
• Detroit: 2-14
• Cleveland: 5-11
• St. Louis: 1-15
• Detroit: 2-14

I could round up 30 guys from the neighborhood and beat most of these teams. Yet Lovie Smith keeps his fucking job for not fucking up against the dregs of the National Football League. Congratulations Smith, you're not the shittiest coach this year, but you damn sure aren't a good coach. Here's the Bears statistical rankings under Lovie Smith since losing the Super Bowl:

2007: 7-9 Defense ranked: 28th Offense ranked: 27th


2008: 9-7 Defense ranked: 21st Offense ranked: 26th

2009: 7-9 Defense ranked: 19th Offense ranked: 23rd

Oh wow, it went up this year! We made it into the top 20! Guess what? That shouldn't be good enough! We're suppossed to have one of the best defenses in the league, not a "barely-scraping-into-the-top-20" defense! And if being the 23rd ranked Offense is enough to fire your offensive coordinator and his entire staff, then why isn't being the #19 defense enough to fire that coordinator? Because Lovie Smith was both! He failed miserably as a head coach and he failed completely and utterly as a defensive coordinator. There's even talk that Lovie's going to do both again next season too, because no one in this damn organization learns their fucking lessons. If things went bad now, why wouldn't they go bad the next time you try to do the same thing? Only a fool keeps trying the same thing expecting a different outcome each time. And that's what the Bears are. Fools. Completely and utterly.

What makes me the most angry, is that this is the year when there is a dearth of talented and historically terrific coaches available for teams. Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher, Mike Shannahan, Jon Gruden, and many others all could be looking for teams, but why should the Bears try and get someone that's been a head coach before? They never have in the history of their organization. So they'll stick with Lovie and just smile politely with him as he drives yet another season fully into the ground in 2010. The difference is that this upcoming season, I won't be on that bandwagon. Not 'til someone else is driving it.