Know their Coach- (and we do) Lovie Smith

Lovie Smith was named the thirteenth head coach in Chicago Bears history on January 15, 2004. Smith enters his eighth season as the head coach of the Chicago Bears after winning his third NFC North crown in 2010, most in the division since 2004. Smith also has a 3-3 postseason record, including two NFC Championship game appearances, an NFC Championship and the Bears first Super Bowl appearance in 21 years (2006).

With an 11-5 record in 2010, Smith has led the Bears to three 11-win seasons during his tenure, including a career-high 13 wins in 2006 when he led Chicago to home-field advantage in the NFC Playoffs and the team’s first NFC Championship since its Super Bowl season of 1985. A year earlier, Smith earned the 2005 AP NFL Coach of the Year Award after turning a 1-3 start to the season into 11 victories, the most by a second-year coach in club annals, and the second seed in the NFC Playoffs. Fueled by an eight game win streak, Smith led a worst-to-first revival in the NFC North division as the Bears six-win improvement from the previous season was tied for the biggest in the NFL in 2005.

Smith joined Ditka as the only coaches in team history to lead the team to consecutive division titles (2005-06). He is the first coach in team history to lead the Bears to the playoffs in two of his first three seasons.

In Smith’s first season, Chicago posted a 5-11 record. The Bears rank second in the NFL from 2004- 07 with 140 takeaways and 14 touchdowns scored via defensive return. Smith came to Chicago from St. Louis (2001-03), where he served as defensive coordinator. In 2001 he helped the Rams return to the Super Bowl after missing the playoffs the previous season.

Smith previously coached the linebackers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1996-2000). Smith played collegiately at Tulsa (1976-79), where he was a linebacker before moving to strong safety and earning two-time All- America and three-time All- Missouri Conference defensive back honors. He began his coaching career at his hometown high school (Big Sandy, Texas) in 1980 before moving to Cascia Hall Prep in Tulsa the following year. Two years later Smith began coaching collegiately at Tulsa (1983-86), Wisconsin (1987), Arizona State (1988- 1991), Kentucky (1992), Tennessee (1993- 94), and Ohio State (1995).