Does anyone feel Lovie Smith is too soft on his players?

Question

Not suggesting that he is,just read an article by a columnist who thought he was.

Answer 1

I think he's a great coach in a bad situation. The best example I can give is when Bellichick was in Cleveland. He knew what he was doing, but the organization was deplorable so he didn't get the respect he deserved as a coach until he got to a team that supported him and his decisions. You put Lovie Smith with a team that has something going for itself, like say, the Bills, and you'd have an unbelieveable team. He is a great motivater and inspires confidence in his players. Unfortunately for him the owners don't support him; I'm sure deep down he's thinking, "d**n I wish we had a quarterback". Also the Bears make it hard on themselves because after the superbowl a lot of the team got into trouble and some other people left which makes it hard to get free agents to come there and makes it hard to keep free agents.

-phillybirdsphorever

Answer 2

Think about it...how tough can a guy named "Lovie" be? He has a reputation of being a sound defensive coach yet the Bears' defense has deteriorated during his tenure. Additionally, he's a poor judge of offensive talent, particularly at the quarterback position, and the Bears offense is ineffective and predictable.

Smith may have been a good defensive coordinator but it's becoming painfully apparent that he's a poor head coach.

Answer 3

That's not his style of coaching.  He, Tony Dungey, Rod Marinelli, Mike Tomlin, Herm Edwards, etc etc (his whole TB crew) are teachers of the game - they aren't maniacs that scream and yell at their players.

I think he's a good coach.

Answer 4

There's a million things wrong in Chicago, from their famous QB issues all the way to the top of the organization and their owner's famous stinginess and apparent lack of desire to win.  Thinking that there's something wrong with their coach too makes a lot of sense.

He probably is.

Answer 5

Maybe a Little

Answer 6

He hasn't had the heart to tell Rex Grossman that he hasn't got any talent and should seek a career selling vacuum cleaners because he sure knows about suction.

Answer 7

Well, I think Tony Dungy proves that you don't have to be tough on your players to get them to play well.  Part of what you might consider being too soft by Lovie Smith really should be the general manager's job.  He's the one that should say whether a guy gets fired or not rather than the coach.  The coach just picks who he wants to play.  

Lovie has definitely been too optimistic on Grossman and Orton, but at the same time the Bears ownership has been really stingy with money.  It's hard to say if the problem is with the owners, the GM, or Lovie concerning the QB problem.  But if Orton or Grossman don't do good this year I think someone in that organization needs to do some action as far as getting a new QB.

Answer 8

no d**n good coach

Answer 9

I think Lovie is a good coach who knows that you can't always get the best out of such a diverse group of players just by giving them h**l.

He has shown that whilst he can be understanding and is willing to give people chances, when it's time to come down hard on players (think Cedric Benson) he and the Bears organization will not hold back