Anyone who doesn’t understand the Bears’ plan this offseason shouldn’t feel bad.
Brian Urlacher doesn’t understand it, either.
The Bears’ great even has a theory for the Bears’ misfortunes over the last four years. He calls it “The Lovie Smith Curse.”
Urlacher’s last year with the Bears, 2012, also turned out to be Lovie Smith’s last year as Bears head coach. Smith was fired after going 10-6 and missing the playoffs.
In nine years as Bears coach, Smith went 81-63 and led the Bears to the playoffs three times, including one conference championship game and one Super Bowl.
“Since he left, (the Bears have struggled),” Urlacher said on CBS Sports Radio. “He got fired being 10-6. I think they fire him either way. Even if we go to the playoffs, I think they fire him. I don’t think the GM (Phil Emery) liked the way he coached the football team. The guy’s a winner. I love playing for him.”
The Bears went 8-8 under Marc Trestman in 2013 and 5-11 in 2014. Emery and Trestman were fired after the 2014 season. Under John Fox and GM Ryan Pace, the Bears went 6-10 in 2015 and 3-13 last year, their worst record since they went 1-13 in 1969.
“I don’t know what the identity of that team is,” Urlacher said. “They sign (Mike) Glennon, then they draft a kid No. 2 (Mitchell Trubisky). I don’t know what (they’re doing). It’s confusing.”
If it doesn’t become clear what the Bears are doing by the end of the 2017 season, another coach (and maybe another general manager) could be coming in and Urlacher would be wise to trademark the term “The Lovie Smith Curse.”
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