Bye-Bye, Lovie
One of the realities of organizations and sports teams is that you usually can’t fire everyone at once, even if you want to. Instead, the head (CEO, or head coach) is usually the one to take the fall. After another sloppily-played, avoidable defeat by our Chicago Bears, I will join the growing crescendo of folks calling for Lovie’s dismissal. Sorry. It’s time. Another game of questionable personnel decisions, false starts, wasted timeouts, and defenders out of position. Lovie is wont to say “it’s on me”, and it’s time to take him up on that.
A relative easy way to make a mediocre team competitive is to first avoid dumb mistakes, and to play well on special teams. No false starts, clock discipline, good kickoff coverage, no turnovers. This is the Bill Parcells formula when he takes over a team. (A next step, in the Parcells and Jim Finks playbook, is the build from the lines out.) The 2005 edition of the Bears epitomized this, and the 2006 Bears overcame a surplus of picks (Bad Rex!) based in large part on great special teams (Hester + excellent coverage) and, of course, defense, the two of which combined for 9 non-offensive touchdowns that year.
This year’s edition has picks, poor time management, a Raiders-like penchant for penalties and in particular false starts, and an amazing propensity to be just plain out of position. As Troy Aikman put it, high school football is usually played on Fridays. Below - that toasty smell is your Bears defense being burnt. Over and over.
Bye-bye, Lovie.