Bears Fans Erect Billboard Asking for Firing of Lovie Smith

By Prescott Carlson in News on Dec 23, 2009 6:20PM

There are websites, Facebook and Yelp pages, and blog posts and comments by the thousands calling for the head of Bears' coach Lovie Smith, but one group of fans is going a bit further by putting up a billboard with a direct message to the Bears owners, the McCaskey family.

Bear Fans United was created because, as they put it, the "lack of accountability has trickled on down the organization from the very top all the way to the players… and is sickening." And apparently a large number of people agree with them. In just under a week the group has received over $5,300 in donations, which they plan on using for newspaper and radio advertisements and other "public relations awareness projects" expressing their disgust with the current Bears organization. Any money raised above and beyond their goal will be donated to the Walter and Connie Payton Foundation.

First up, a billboard that's been erected on a busy stretch of Hintz Road in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, asking the McCaskeys to fire Lovie Smith -- more specifically, to get rid of the whole lot. The billboard states:

To the McCaskey Family,

Do the right thing. Hire an ENTIRELY NEW coaching staff and GM.

Sincerely,
The Chicago Bears Fans

These super fans also have a recommendation for Smith's replacement -- former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who grew up in the Chicago area and knows a thing or two about Jay Cutler. Shanahan was fired from the Broncos last December after the team failed to make the playoffs for the third year in a row.