By Jim Coffman
The primary problem with the Lovie Smith coaching philosophy and persona reveals itself in games like Sunday’s Bears debacle at Cincinnati.
Running back Ced Benson’s comments early last week, the ones in which he declined to take any responsibility for his terrible tenure in Chicago, should have been motivational gold.
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According to Smilin’ Ced, it was the Bears (teammates who were never as supportive as they should have been) and their coaches (who weren’t good at their jobs) who were to blame for the fact that he was one of the all-time Bear busts. And I know everyone considers the source when desperate-for-attention wide receiver Chad Ochocinco blathers on about his own greatness and his competition’s shortcomings. But there was still plenty of material there as well that should have made for more spirited practices leading up to Sunday’s game and given the Bears an extra edge right from the opening kickoff.
But this is the coach who is always cool, who doesn’t let anything disturb his equilibrium. He wants to make sure his team never gets too high or too low and he tries to do so by making sure he never gets even the slightest bit high or low.
Leading up to the game, it was fascinating how Bears beat writers in both papers didn’t make a big deal out of Ochocinco’s comments, Twitter snippets in which he slammed Bears cornerback Charles Tillman and went on and on about his own abilities. They knew Smith wouldn’t (or couldn’t) even try to use the big-mouthed Cincinnati receivers’ words against him.
Sure enough, not only did the Bears not display any extra fire on Sunday in Cincy, they didn’t even achieve an average energy level in the early going. And the situation went from bad to disastrous in a hurry.
Bengal quarterback Carson Palmer was so good Sunday that it might not have mattered how motivated the Bears were. But at least the game might not have been so utterly embarrassing.
In general, I’m a fan of coaches who stay calm just about no matter what. I do believe a team has a better chance of staying relaxed and performing well in the clutch if its leader stays calm and collected throughout.
But especially on the gridiron, there are going to be games where the winner will look back on some pre-game motivational fodder as having made a considerable difference, especially when opposing disrespect has actually filled the air.
I try desperately to avoid pre-game analysis on television. So many talking heads project so much on a given Sunday morning, only to so frequently be proven wrong. And then they just come back and do it all over again the next week.
On Sunday, one of the pre-game shows was on briefly in my house and I listened in just long enough to hear former Bear coach Mike Ditka preview New England versus Tampa Bay. He zeroed in on one Patriot weakness in particular – the play of its secondary. So what was the first touchdown scored Sunday? Patriot safety Brandon Meriweather notched a pick-six.
So I wasn’t listening and therefore can’t say if Sunday’s play-by-play man, Sam Rosen, or analyst Tim Ryan, spent any time in the moments leading up to the opening kickoff making any mention of the many shortcomings (poor attitude, sense of entitlement, lack of work ethic to name the three most damning) Benson displayed during his time with the Bears. During the game, other than one brief reference to the running back having grown up since he came to the Bengals, Ryan and Rosen threw bouquet after bouquet Benson’s direction. Do you think they have any idea that what actually happened here was that the bad guy won?
Hopefully, someone out there turned off the TV because they knew I would watch the second half so they wouldn’t have to. Hopefully they were like my son, who had seen enough at that point and went outside to play and take advantage of a decent, mild afternoon. If just one fan made better use of their late afternoon secure in the knowledge that I would fill them in on any notable second-half doings, my job here is at least partially done.
The third quarter began with renewed, if ridiculous-on-its-facemask optimism for the Bears. The dim-witted sideline reporter managed to report without giggling that coach Lovie believed the Bears had seized the momentum with a late first-half field goal. My feeling is you can’t really derive any sort of momentum from a half that ends with the other team leading 31-3, but maybe it was just that I had once again failed to properly temper my cynical side.
Then again, Evanston was the scene on Saturday of one of the great comebacks in this or any college football season. The Northwestern Wildcats trailed 28-3 at the intermission before finding a way to prevail 29-28. If Northwestern could do it, why not the Bears?
Well, first guard Frank Omiyale simply whiffed in his attempt to block a Bengal defensive lineman, leading to a sack during the Bears’ first possession. Then Orlando Pace was called for holding (it always comes back to the offensive line with this team and that is a big problem). Soon Jay Cutler was fumbling and bumbling a second shotgun snap (both weren’t perfect but they certainly should have been caught).
The Bears almost caught a break when a Bengal defensive back foolishly caught a fourth-down interception deep down the field. But what could have been a 30-yard field position swing (if the guy had just knocked the ball down, the Bengals would have had it way back up at the line of scrimmage) was squandered when first Earl Bennett and then several other Bears failed to touch the Bengal defensive back down (or tackle him) before he made it all the way back to just short of his team’s 40-yard line.
The last two Bengal touchdowns were especially delightful. Ochocinco established once and for all that over-confidence pays off when he hauled in his second touchdown pass in the third quarter. And in the fourth, Benson capped off his delightful day with a one-yard touchdown plunge and a beaming victory lap over behind his team’s bench..
Later in the half, that same, special sideline reporter (whose name is Laura Okmin) turned in a report about Ochocinco wearing a special helmet with an extra buckle to combat what he was sure would be an extra physical performance by the Bear defense.
I’m sure Okmin identified that as a report she would be able to do before the game but still, Ms. Okmin, you need to be able to think on your feet a bit, to perhaps decide not to report on something if it turns out to be hysterically laughably incongruous.
There were so many more happy, shiny words about Benson. If analyst Tim Ryan had set out to torture Bears fans with these sentiments, he couldn’t have done a better job.
The Bears roughed the Bengal punter on his only punt of the day, Bear back-up Caleb Hanie came in at quarterback, and his only throw of consequence flew high into the air and begged to be intercepted before somehow finding its way to the turf. And shortly thereafter, mercifully and blessedly, it was finally over.
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Jim Coffman rounds up the sports weekend in this space every Monday. He welcomes your comments.
Posted on October 26, 2009