Graphic by Chi-Town Review
The Chicago Bears constantly ranked low in season offense under head coach Lovie Smith. The Bears fired Smith because of it.
The Chicago Bears is looking for an offensive-minded coach after firing former head Lovie Smith Monday.
General manager Phil Emery broke the news to Smith just when the team missed making the playoffs despite a 7-1 start to the season and two-point lead against the Detroit Lions in their last game.
The reason was clear to many. Smith brought strong defensive strategy, but just couldn’t improve the team’s offense. The team admits this was a major factor in the decision to cut him loose.
Bears offense constantly ranked below the bottom 72 percent in the league, despite the team’s hiring a star quarterback and four different offensive coordinators.
But Jay cutler, Bear’s quarterback, says a lot of the blame falls on him.
“As soon as I heard he was fired, there was instant regret in what we could have done and what we should have done,” he told ChicagoBears.com.
But Smith is moving on, currently in talks with the Buffalo Bills about the New York team’s coach search.
As for the Bears, Smith’s vacancy may be filled as early as January 19, but Emery isn’t making promises.
“That would be the ideal situation,” Emery told reporters Thursday. “We’re just going to have to take each step day-by-day and work through it, make sure we’ve interviewed all the candidates thoroughly and checked their backgrounds thoroughly before we come to a final decision.”
