Results tagged “loviesmith”

       

The calls for Lovie Smith's head are only going to escalate following the Bears' 10-6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night. Fans don't care about the added cost of firing a head coach with years left on his contract, we just want to see our team win. Especially the winnable games. Thurday night's game, against a team that entered the game with a 3-5 record, was one of those games the Bears had to win if they had any dreams of making the playoffs.

       

Maybe the Bears aren't who we thought they are. While we thought this team was certainly among the top few in the NFC, they are proving to be mediocre at best. Playing against the Arizona Cardinals at Soldier Field on Sunday, the Bears got killed 41-21 by a team who entered the game with an identical 4-3 record.

       

As if the the debut of supposed franchise "savior" Jay Cutler wasn't enough, playing a nationally televised Sunday night game and playing against the arch rival Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field meant we Bears fans were revved up for Week 1. By the end of the night, however, our excitement and optimism had turned to dejection as the Packers outlasted the Bears 21-15 in an ugly opener. That the Bears even had any chance to win the game was a bit of a miracle, but they actually took a 15-13 lead with less than three minutes to play. Unfortunately, it was one of those nights where if anything could go wrong, it did.

No, this post is not a repeat from 2008. Or 2007. Or 2006. For the fourth time in as many years, Bears defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek has apparently suffered a season-ending injury. Dvoracek left Saturday night's preseason game against the New York Giants with a knee injury, and while he was seen with his right heavily wrapped in ice afterward, he declared it to be fine. However, rumors of a scheduled MRI alluded to the fact it might be more serious. After the tests, coach Lovie Smith called it a sprained MCL, but the Sun-Times reports Dvoracek has a torn ACL in his right knee, as well, and he's finished for the year. We'll see how long before the Bears place him on the injured reserve list to make it official.

For the second consecutive year, the Bears will find themselves playing in front of a national audience in the first week of the season. The Bears head to Lambeau Field for a week one prime time match-up against the Green Bay Packers on NBC's "Sunday Night Football." The September 13 game will be the 178th between the two foes, whose rivalry goes back to 1921. The Bears hold the 91-80-6 advantage against the Pack, with the two team splitting last year's games. Bears head coach Lovie Smith, who knows that beat the Packers is almost as important as making the playoffs, is 4-1 at Lambeau during his tenure. Can the Bears steal a week one win again in '09? When they opened on "Sunday Night Football" last year, they upset the heavily favored Indianapolis Colts. As for the rest of the Bears schedule, the NFL will release the full slate of games in April.

The Bears enter this off-season as they do every year, with questions at quarterback. After a surprising start to last year, Kyle Orton seemed to have earned himself the starting job. But a late season slump that followed a mid-season injury prevented him from locking down the position. Even if he does remain atop the depth chart, they need somebody to back him up, and Rex Grossman isn't likely to return.

Given the mediocre play by the Bears' defense the past two seasons, many fans used to the team's defensive dominance were screaming for Bob Babich's head. Afterall, we Bears fans don't expect to see our team's D in the lower third of the league -- they were 21st of 32 in '08. But while most of the team's defensive position coaches have been relieved of duty or left for other jobs, Babich remained as defensive coordinator.

After a 9-7 season and no trip to the playoffs, the Chicago Bears are certainly looking to improve. But can hiring the former head coach from the first NFL team to ever go 0-16 possibly help? Rod Marinelli, fired by Detroit after their debacle of a season, was seen at Halas Hall over the weekend where he apparently interviewed for a job with the Bears.

With the Bears atop the NFC North, Lovie Smith's perfect record at Lambeau and Kyle Orton's return to the field, we Bears fans felt pretty good when waking up Sunday morning. But none of that mattered as the Packers destroyed the Bears 37-3. The Bears were equally horrible on both sides of the ball, where the offense managed 234 yards of total offense and a lone field goal while the defense showed little ability to stop the run or pass.

Coach Lovie Smith says not to read anything into it, but Kyle Orton will start at quarterback for the Bears when they host the Kansas City Chiefs at Soldier Field tomorrow evening.

Bears rookies just began their first rookie mini camp a few days ago, and already safety Craig Steltz seems to be making a good impression.

Guess that knee injury Rex Grossman suffered last December wasn't so serious -- he was offered a new one year contract with the Bears, which he agreed to this morning. The Sun-Times calls the contract "imminent", and that it "includes incentives based on play time and performance".

Too bad Brian Urlacher's monster game on Monday night came too late in the season for it to impact Pro Bowl voting by coaches and players. While he won the fans' vote, the Bears' middle linebacker was not selected to February's Pro Bowl for only the second time in his career — and the first in which he played the whole year.

I'm bringin' Rexy back That other boy threw just as many picks I think Rexy's special... he's my quarterback He can turn around our team or I'll take the flack So maybe Lovie Smith didn't perform a parody of Justin Timberlake's hit song, but the Bears' head coach did announce to the press on Wednesday that he was changing quarterbacks again and that Rex Grossman will start when the Bears face the Seattle Seahawks on...

The Bears have their bye week this weekend, which means a weekend off for Lovie Smith's players. We imagine Kyle Orton will end up in some embarrassing photos taken in some college-town bar. We suspect that Brian Urlacher will stay home to rest his aching back... unless some starlet want to hang with him in Vegas. And perhaps Lance Briggs will use the free time to finally test drive some new rides. It also means...

Sure, we're all anxious and upset about the supposed cuts to the CTA service. However, there is one bus route we wouldn't mind see being cut. "We're a team that gets off the bus running the football,'' Bears coach Lovie Smith said Wednesday. ''I have it memorized, and that's what we are, period.'' Has he been watching the same offense we we've been watching this year? The only thing separating this team from a 1-6...

When Lovie Smith came to Chicago, he guaranteed victories over the Green Bay Packers. And four years into his tenure as Bears head coach, Lovie has lived up to his promise — at least at Lambeau Field. Sunday night, he took his 1-3 Bears into Green Bay to face the 4-0 Packers and came away with the 27-20 win. The Packers seemingly dominated the first half, racking up 341 yards of offense. Two key forced...

Thank you! It's about damn time. While Lovie Smith won't make the announcement official until later today, media everywhere are reporting that Brian Griese will take the field with the first team at practice on Wednesday because he is the Bears' new starting quarterback. Rex, you can grab a hat and clipboard right over there next to Kyle Orton. Chicagoist is by no means under the impression that this solves our quarterback problems. In the...

Returns for touchdowns can be fluky. Sometimes great return guys go ages without breaking one open. And sometimes guys get lucky multiple times in short succession, never to do it again. Chicagoist wondered whether Devin Hester's amazing rookie campaign — which saw him return three punts, two kickoffs and a missed field goal for TD's — was a fluke or if he really is that special of a player. After Sunday's 20-10 victory over the...

The Bears wrapped up their preseason schedule on Thursday night by hosting the Cleveland Browns. The Browns beat the Bears 19-9, giving the Bears a 3-1 record for the preseason. With the regular season opening in nine days, the goals for the final tune-up were to evaluate the talent of the guys still trying to make the squad, and to keep the starters healthy. Unfortunately for the Bears, coach Lovie Smith kept at least one...

It's been barely more than 24 hours since Lance Briggs' brand new $450,000 Lamborghini was found wrapped around a pole on the side of the Edens Expressway. In that time, we have learned that he was in fact driving the car at the time of the accident, and as a result on Monday was charged with leaving the scene of an accident -- a misdemeanor-- and ticketed for failure to immediately notify police of a...

The Bears played their third preseason game Saturday night, hosting the San Francisco 49ers. With the Bears taking the field at home for the first time since last year's playoffs, all eyes in Soldier Field were squarely on Rex Grossman. Even before the game, camera crews and Chicagoist ourselves focused in on Rex's practice snaps. We wanted to see any signs of progress after Grossman's three fumbles against the Indianapolis Colts last Monday, of which...

The Bears and Colts met for a pre-season rematch of Super Bowl XLI on Monday night, with the Bears winning 27-24. Of greatest concern for Bears fans is the apparent return of Bad Rex last night. The Bears' quarterback fumbled the ball three times and threw an interception in his limited duty. Yikes! Even when Rex's stat lines look respectable -- 9 of 11 for 59 yards and scored a touchdown, his inconsistency strikes fear...

With the Bears opening training camp on Friday, it's time to dust off the blue and orange, refresh our memories of last year's Super Bowl XLI appearance, and then start figuring out what to fret about come Week One. The Tribune points out their five areas of concern, while the Sun-Times gives us their ten things to watch for. 1. At the top of both lists is the quarterback situation. Can Rex Grossman be the...

The Bears' offseason thus far has been a pretty unbearable affair for fans. We watched the tension grow between team management and head coach Lovie Smith before Lovie finally got the extension and raise he deserved for taking the Bears to the Super Bowl. We saw defensive coordinator — and member of the 1985 Super Bowl team — Ron Riviera fired. Thomas Jones traded. Lance Briggs telling anyone and everyone he's upset at the Bears'...

Having plead guilty to probation violations last month stemming from his December arrest on guns charges, Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson faced sentencing on Thursday. In a Skokie courtroom, Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Moran sentenced Johnson to 120 days in jail and fined him $2,500. Bears head coach Lovie Smith and Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher spoke on Johnson's behalf prior to sentencing. Imagine how long he'd be incarcerated if they hadn't! Speaking...

Just days after Bears management redeemed themselves by locking up Lovie Smith for the next five years, they once again have us scratching our heads. They traded Thomas Jones, the team's starting running back, to the New York Jets along with their late second-round pick for an early second-round draft pick. Are we missing something? Jones ran for over 1,200 yards in 2006, carrying the ball 296 times and averaging 4.1 yards a carry. He...

When we heard that Bears president Ted Phillips planned to meet face-to-face with head coach Lovie Smith this afternoon, we had a bad feeling. We feared that a bad situation over Lovie's contract extension would only deteriorate. These types of meetings have a way of getting too personal. What could be said that would make things better? Either Phillips would make up excuses about why the Bears couldn't offer more as much as they really...

Usually, we tend not to take the side of those in sports demanding more, more, more money. And in many ways, it's hard to feel too sorry for a guy who already has a contract that'll pay him more than 20 times Chicagoist's salary. But in the case of Lovie Smith, we just do not understand why he hasn't gotten a new deal yet and why the Bears ownership doesn't just agree to pay what...

Talk about a dramatic fall from the top! After weeks of rumors and speculation that Ron Rivera was a candidate for nearly every head coaching opening in the NFL, "the Man" had other plans for poor Chico. First he got passed over for the San Diego Chargers top job, and then Bears management tossed their defensive coordinator out in the cold. The San Diego Chargers — who surprised many by firing Marty Schottenheimer following a...