Tag: Lovie Smith

Report: David Culley targeting former Bears coach Lovie Smith as Texans’ new defensive coordinator

The Houston Texans are targeting former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith as the new defensive coordinator for new coach David Culley.

The Houston Texans could be getting one of the better defensive minds to shore up their disappointing unit from a season ago.

According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Texans are going after former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith as their new defensive coordinator to replace Anthony Weaver, who left to take a job with the Baltimore Ravens as their new defensive line coach.

Smith’s career has not been on as successful of a trajectory as it was when he was in Chicago. After a year off from football after getting fired following a 10-6 finish with the Bears, Smith was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coach from 2014-15. After going a combined 8-24, the Bucs let Smith go, and he went back in the college ranks to coach Illinois from 2016-20.

How Smith even got consideration for the Bears’ job in 2004 was due to his success as the St. Louis Rams’ defensive coordinator from 2001-03. The Rams qualified for Super Bowl XXXVI his first season, and his last year saw the Rams finish with a 12-4 record and obtain a first-round bye.

If the Texans can get that type of success from their defense, it will help them recover from a 4-12 season, regardless of what happens at quarterback.

Throwback Thursday: Bears win the NFC North in Green Bay on Christmas in 2005

In this week’s Throwback Thursday, the Bears celebrated Christmas ’05 with a 24-17 win over the Packers and division title at Lambeau Field.

Every Thursday throughout the 2020 regular season, Bears Wire looks back at some of the most memorable moments in Chicago Bears history that occurred on or near that given day.

December 25, 2005: Bears celebrate Christmas at Lambeau Field with a 24-17 win and division title

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXlV16JL5g0

Back in 2005, there weren’t many new feats the Chicago Bears haven’t accomplished in their storied history. Well, except having a quarterback who can throw for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns. But up until 2005, the Bears had never played a football game on Christmas day. When it finally happened, they made sure it was a memorable game.

Fifteen years ago, the Bears turned a slow start to their season into an improbable playoff run during head coach Lovie Smith’s second season. Led by one of the best defenses of the decade, along with a power running game, the Bears were stifling opponents left and right, winning 10 games and were on the verge of capturing a division title. They just needed to defeat their biggest rival, the Green Bay Packers, to get there.

In their primetime matchup, the Bears struck first. Quarterback Rex Grossman, who was making his first start of the season after missing much of the year with a broken ankle, fired a dart to wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad on the Bears’ first drive to put them up 7-0. The lead wouldn’t last, though, as the Packers responded on their next drive.

Quarterback Brett Favre drove down the field on a defense that had only allowed 12.6 points per game, tying it up at 7-7. Green Bay had a chance to take the lead on their next possession but missed a 38-yard field goal attempt from kicker Ryan Longwell. From there, the Bears began to turn things around. Grossman launched a 54-yard bomb to wide receiver Bernard Berrian to put the Bears in striking distance. Running back Thomas Jones finished the job, putting the Bears up 14-7. The veteran back had 105 yards on 25 carries.

Things got worse for the Packers as Favre began throwing passes to the other team. The Hall of Fame quarterback threw four interceptions in total, including a pick six to linebacker Lance Briggs that put the Bears up 24-7 in the third quarter. The game tightened at the end, however, when the Packers cut the Bears lead to 24-17 late in the fourth quarter.

With one last chance and just under a minute to go, Favre would fall short in his comeback bid as he would be picked off to end the game. The win gave the Bears the NFC North title, a first-round bye in the playoffs, a sweep of the Packers for the first time since 1991, and one heck of a Christmas present for fans everywhere.

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Illinois sends Lovie Smith packing

Illinois has fired Lovie Smith after five years and a 17-39 mark

The college football coaching carousel is spinning.

A day after Arizona fired Kevin Sumlin, the University of Illinois has sent Lovie Smith on his way.

Smith was 17–39 over five seasons in Champaign

“Lovie Smith led the Illinois football program with unquestioned integrity during his nearly five years of service,” director of athletics Josh Whitman said Sunday in a statement. “I have tremendous respect for coach Smith and will always be grateful to him for providing a steady, experienced hand at a time when our program required stability. His unshakeable leadership, never more needed than during this pandemic, will be forever remembered.

“Nonetheless, based on extensive evaluation of the program’s current state and future outlook, I have concluded the program is not progressing at the rate we should expect at this advanced stage in coach Smith’s tenure.”

Smith has now been fired by a pro and college team in Illinois. He coached the Chicago Bears but was let go by the NFC North team in 2012.

 

 

Former Bears coach Lovie Smith fired from Illinois

Former Bears head coach Lovie Smith will not be returning to the University of Illinois to coach the Fighting Illini in 2021.

Former Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith will not be returning to the University of Illinois to coach the Fighting Illini. Smith had a meeting with his football team Sunday morning which ended up being an era in Illinois.

In a COVID-19 season, the Illini finished the 2020 season with a 2-5 record. During Smith’s tenure, Illinois went 17-39 overall and 10-33 in the Big Ten conference. Illinois’ best finish was in 2019 when they finished 6-7 (4-5) and fourth in the Big Ten West standings, then earned a bid to the Redbox Bowl where they lost 35-20 to the Cal Golden Bears.

The Chicago Bears hired Smith in 2004 after the dismissal of Dick Jauron. Smith had three goals in mind for the Bears: beat the Green Bay Packers, win the NFC North and win a Super Bowl. Throughout his tenure with the Bears, Smith was able to deliver on two of those goals but had an appearance in Super Bowl XLI.

Smith was able to beat the Packers seven times in his nine-season career with the Bears, then secured three NFC North titles. The Bears came close to a second Super Bowl appearance in Smith’s tenure but the Packers bested the Bears in the 2010 NFC Championship Game.

After Smith was fired in 2012, where the Bears started 7-1 but missed the playoffs with a 10-6 record, he was interviewed by the Houston Texans for the head coaching job. However, Smith had interviews with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions. Smith ended up taking the Buccaneers head coaching job and lasted two seasons with an 8-24 record.

The Bears have growing rumors that they could be moving on from GM Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy after another disappointing season. Perhaps a reunion could be a possibility with Smith if the Bears were to head down that direction.

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Matt Forte, Kyle Long wonder what it’s going to take for the Bears to fire Matt Nagy

The Bears fired Lovie Smith following a 10-win season. Matt Nagy has his team on a six-game losing streak for the first time in 18 years.

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Just when you think things can’t get worse for the Chicago Bears this season, they continue to prove everyone wrong. If you thought last week’s 41-25 loss to the Green Bay Packers was bad, Chicago officially hit rock bottom with a 34-30 loss to the Detroit Lions, where the Bears blew a 10-point lead in the final two minutes.

Bears fans and alumni alike were outraged at Chicago’s sixth straight loss following a 5-1 start. At this point, it seems like it’s not a matter of “if” the Bears will clean house with head coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace, it’s a matter of “when.”

Especially considering the Bears have now lost dix straight games for the first time since 2002 — over 18 years ago.

Among those that voiced their outrage on Twitter was former Bears running back Matt Forte, who has seen more than enough of this abysmal offense and thinks both Nagy and Pace should be fired. That, and he feels bad for fans and the product both of those guys have put on the field.

Forte has seen firsthand what has gotten a head coach axed, when Lovie Smith was fired when the Bears failed to make the playoffs with a 10-6 record in 2012. Which has left Forte, like many, wondering what it’s going to take for Nagy to get fired. Although, this Lions loss might’ve just been the final blow.

After all, Smith was fired following a 10-win season while Nagy hasn’t done much outside of 2018’s 12-win season.

Even former Bears right guard Kyle Long, who played under Nagy for two seasons, wondered what it’ll take for Nagy to ultimately get the boot midseason.

Nagy and Pace’s seats — along with president Ted Phillips — have gotten hotter with each passing week, but this loss likely was the final dagger in George McCaskey’s decision to part ways with them at season’s end.

Although, it would likely serve the Bears better to cut the cord now and get ahead of finding a new general manager and head coach heading into what looks to be a rebuilding offseason.

The McCaskey’s aren’t known for firing people midseason, but you wonder if this mess is enough to make an exception.

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WATCH what Illinois head coach Lovie Smith said about Ohio Sate prior to the game

Illinois coach Lovie Smith had his weekly press conference early this week. He discussed the challenge of facing a talented Ohio State team.

Ohio State hits the road to face its next challenge against Illinois. After a game against Indiana in which the defense got exposed through the air, the Buckeyes need a bounce-back type of effort to change the national narrative of where things stand. But more than anything, it needs to begin the improvement towards the end of what they hope is a special journey.

Illini head coach Lovie Smith knows the challenge his team faces. He met with the media early this week to discuss the upcoming game and what he sees from Ohio State.

He was very complimentary of the talent the Buckeyes have and understands that Illinois is a huge underdog. In case you missed any of his comments, we’ve got the video for you here thanks to Jim Cotter of the Danville Commercial News.

Listen to Smith talk about the talent of Justin Fields, how special the talent is at Ohio State, how he believes his team is improving, and more.

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Northwestern upsets Wisconsin as epic turnaround continues

Nobody outside of Evanston expected Northwestern to be much of anything in 2020 as the Wildcats went just 3-9 a season ago and an embarrassing 1-8 in the Big Ten.

There are a lot of worthy candidates for the national coach of the year award and after this week things only got that much tougher in trying to determine.

Some Notre Dame fans will say it should go to Brian Kelly yet again for finally getting over the hump and knocking off a truly elite team but the argument against that would simply be how high expectations were for the Irish entering 2020.

If I had a vote for any coach of the year award though I’d probably be giving it to the head coach of another unbeaten Midwestern team, one located roughly 90 miles west of Notre Dame.

Nobody outside of Evanston expected Northwestern to be much of anything in 2020 as the Wildcats went just 3-9 a season ago and an embarrassing 1-8 in the Big Ten.

Five games into the unique 2020 season there are few stories better than that of Northwestern however as Pat Fitzgerald has helped to turn the Wildcats around as they sit 5-0 after upsetting No. 10 Wisconsin on Saturday.

Wisconsin entered Saturday as a national darling after embarrassing Michigan in primetime a week ago but Northwestern’s defense was beyond impressive, forcing three Graham Mertz interceptions, forcing and recovering a pair of fumbles, and holding the Badgers to just seven points.

For the year the Wildcats are allowing only 12.3 points per game

Northwestern has just three games remaining this regular season and we’d expect them to be a somewhat sizeable favorite in all three as 1-3 Michigan State, 2-3 Minnesota and 2-3 Illinois remain before a likely trip to the Big Ten Championship Game for what would be the second time in three seasons.

It wasn’t expected entering 2020 that Northwestern would be much of a threat in the Big Ten West after their disappointing 2019 showing, but with just three regular-season games to go the only thing that would be disappointing at this point for the Wildcats is if they aren’t 8-0 and Indianapolis bound in Mid-December.

Watch: Illinois punts on fourth-and-goal against Minnesota

There is no playbook that says you have to punt on fourth-and-goal.

Some things are too good to be ignored. One of them happened Saturday.

Illinois punted to Minnesota. There would be nothing out of the ordinary since the Fighting Illini usually punts at the end of its drives.

However, this was special. How about punting on fourth-and-goal?

Yep, the Illini had first and goal at the Minnesota 10 and went in reverse.

Here’s your play-by-play:

  • 4th & Goal at MINN 48

    (9:54 – 3rd) Blake Hayes punt for 37 yds, fair catch by Phillip Howard at the Minn 11

  • 3rd & Goal at MINN 48

    (10:10 – 3rd) Coran Taylor pass incomplete

  • 2nd & Goal at MINN 25

    (10:55 – 3rd) Coran Taylor run for a loss of 23 yards to the Minn 48 Coran Taylor fumbled, recovered by Illin Casey Washington

  • 2nd & Goal at MINN 10

    (11:11 – 3rd) ILLINOIS Penalty, Personal Foul (-15 Yards) to the Minn 25

  • 1st & Goal at MINN 10

(11:22 – 3rd) Coran Taylor run for no gain to the Minn 10

So, if you need help with math, Lovie Smith’s Illini actually lost one yard on a 37-yard punt from where they had first-and-goal.

Priceless.

 

Wisconsin 45, Illinois 7: 5 Thoughts, Instant Reaction, Graham Mertz Debut

The instant reaction, thoughts, and and what matters after the huge performance by Graham Mertz in the 45-7 win over Illinois.

The instant reaction, thoughts, and and what matters after the huge performance by Graham Mertz in the 45-7 win over Illinois.

– Contact/Follow @PeteFiutak

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5. The Badger running game needs some work

Nitpicking time in a blowout win in the Big Ten debut …

The Wisconsin running game will need to be a bit more Wisconsin-like.

The offensive line was fine overall, and the ground attack got better as the game went on and everything started to slip away, but the 54 carries for 182 yards and a score wasn’t dominant enough for this program.

There’s no Jonathan Taylor, and there might not be a superstar in the backfield until freshman Jalen Berger gets his shot, but the running back by committee thing worked well enough.

And if the offense has to rely on the new superstar quarterback, that’s fine until the ground game can become a killer again.

4. Illinois needs to sink or swim with one of the younger quarterback

Who’s your star going forward, Illinois?

Brandon Peters is the senior quarterback for a veteran team, but he only completed 8-of-19 passes for 87 yards. His biggest contributions were a few big dashes to make him the team’s leading rusher. While he’s the easy veteran call going forward, Isaiah Williams was the star recruit of last year who needs to be the one to develop. At the very least, he needs to be a bigger part of the rotation – Peters still deserves to lead the team forward.

Granted, almost everyone will look awful against the Badger D, but the Illini failed to score an offensive point, there wasn’t any creativity to the passing game, and the team needs a star to build around. Illinois needs to know over the course of this abbreviated season if Williams is it.

3. Yeah, Graham Mertz was amazing, but …

The Badger quarterback had a whole lot of time to work behind an offensive line that needed a little while to get into a lather, but held at bay a dangerous veteran Illinois defensive line that’s going to be great at getting to the quarterback as the year goes on.

There were a whole lot of mistakes by the Illinois secondary, but the receivers found their way open, Mertz was firing to a whole lot of targets in space, and the rest of the parts of the offensive puzzle helped him out.

The defensive front was phenomenal, the team held on to the ball for over 43 minutes, and …

NEXT: Yeah, Graham Mertz was AMAZING, and what’s next for Wisconsin and Illinois?

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Updates on COVID-19 regarding a couple of Big Ten teams

Northwestern became the latest team to suspend football activities on Monday after a positive COVID-19 test found its way to their team.

Last week Notre Dame released news that in their most-recent testing, that no football players tested positive for COVID-19.  That hasn’t happened in many places as we’ve seen the likes of Clemson, LSU, Texas, Alabama, Ohio State and plenty of other programs suspend football activities because of the number of positive tests.

One school that had not yet been the case at was Northwestern, who hadn’t had a positive test at that time.

Key word in that last sentence:  had.

Teddy Greenstein covers the Big Ten and college football like a glove for the Chicago Tribune.  Greenstein reports today that Northwestern is pressing pause on football for at least a couple of days after their first player has tested positive for COVID-19.

Also in the Big Ten numbers have come out in regards to the University of Illinois and their COVID-19 test results.  This from Shannon Ryan, also of the Chicago Tribune:

As Greenstein pointed out in his article, four Big Ten teams have already suspended football activities at different times this summer as Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State and Rutgers have all had to hit pause at different times.

Northwestern’s decision to pause football activities now puts that number at five.