It is a fact of life in the NFL that after you lose 45-10, in the year after your team didn't make the playoffs, people whisper about the future. Usually, that future involves breaking-up with the Head Coach. Talk Radio in Chicago is all abuzz about that very topic this week. Let's not kid ourselves; lots of NFL franchises are ready to throw a ton of money at Bill Cowher, Mike Holmgren, and/or Mike Shanahan to clean up their mess.
That process probably won't take place in Chicago during this off-season. Lovie Smith still has some standing for taking the Bears to the Super Bowl in 2007, although I believe it was a weak Super Bowl team, that represented an average conference that year. More importantly, Smith has another 2 years and 11 million dollars left on his current contract. Bears fans know that the McCaskey family does not like to eat contracts.
I expect this to blow over soon, especially since the Bears won the lottery this week (they play Cleveland at home). It's true that Lovie Smith with be held accountable if the defense continues to struggle. He took over the play-calling duties this season and came to Chicago as a kind of defensive guru. This is his defense, and it's been bad. I don't believe he will be the coach when Jay Cutler brings a Super Bowl Championship back to Chicago, but this will not be Lovie Smith's final year with the Bears either.
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