BOURBONNAIS, Ill.—Camp Lovie opened for the seventh time this afternoon as the Chicago Bears rolled into Olivet Nazarene University to begin training camp.
Lovie Smith enters a critical season now that the team has gone 23-25 in the three years since appearing in Super Bowl XLI. As is common in these parts at this time of the year, optimism abounds.
The Bears have made massive changes since last season. Smith gutted the offensive staff and hired Mike Martz as offensive coordinator for the second incarnation of his scheme in Smith’s reign. Terry Shea’s version of the Martz offense was like a squirt gun without water in 2004. The Bears, in a departure from franchise history, spent like mad in the offseason, landing the top free-agent prize in defensive end Julius Peppers. Finally, general manager Jerry Angelo shuffled his personnel department, leading to the hiring of Tim Ruskell as director of player personnel.
All of the moves were made with the idea in mind that the status quo was no longer acceptable, something team president Ted Phillips announced in a press conference Jan. 5. The belief is it’s playoffs-or-bust for Smith and maybe Angelo although the thinking is that the major free-agent additions (the Bears also signed running back Chester Taylor and tight end Brandon Manumaleuna) will allow the GM to distance himself from the coach is the scramble for life boats is on come December.
That is a long way off and right now Smith likes what he sees. Wait, who are we kidding? He loves what he sees.
“I have been in this game a little bit, I think I know what a good football team looks like,” Smith said. “This is a good football team.
“We know what a Super Bowl football team looks like, so this part of the season, all teams can do is talk about the potential that they have for their football team and see if there are any glaring weaknesses, and we just don’t see that. We see guys in positions with an opportunity to really excel and take a big step forward. That’s why there’s so much excitement around, and we just think, coaches and players, now. Before now it was about getting personnel, getting a lot of outside things set. Now it’s down to just the coaches and the players with football, and we feel good about that.”
The Bears are hoping quarterback Jay Cutler takes off in Martz’s new system but they are counting in veteran line coach Mike Tice, who was actually hired before Martz, to piece together a strong line with the same personnel that did not fare well last season. If that doesn’t happen, a moribund running game is going to remain just that.
Smith is also counting on significant improvement from his defense, the one that will have its third coordinator in as many seasons with Rod Marinelli taking over for Smith himself this year. Change is in the air, but Smith is confident it was all made in the name of progress, not desperation.
Cutler introduced the idea that the players can win to save Smith’s job. He’s signed through 2011 and surely the McCaskey family will not put up with a fourth consecutive non-playoff season.
“Lovie is one of the best coaches I've been around, and I know that everyone on this team has a great amount of respect for him as he does for us,” Cutler said. “I know that some of the guys who have been here longer than me definitely have a lot of ties with him and want to go out there for him and play well.
“You never know what's going to happen this year, if we don't go out and perform, if Lovie is to stay or not. So, that's definitely a question that -- I'm sure -- is in the back of everyone else's mind. But we can't worry about it. We have to play hard, and if we do that, everything else will take care of itself.”
The last ‘Let’s win it for the coach’ rally didn’t go so well in Chicago. Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro was bounced. Smith shrugged off the idea about the players rallying for him and said it’s about individual improvements adding up to improvement by the team as a whole.
“We haven't been one of the teams everyone has talked about heading into the preseason and I can understand why,” Smith said. “We haven't really done a lot the last three years but of course with the new year there's a lot of excitement.”
Can you feel it?
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