Bears GM Phil Emery elaborates on why Lovie Smith was fired
Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery explained why he had to fire Lovie Smith just one season after Smith and the Bears won 10 games.
By
John Breech
•
1 min read
Back in December, Lovie Smith joined Marty Schottenheimer in the very exclusive club of coaches who were fired in the offseason after leading their team to 10 or more wins.
Schottenheimer led San Diego to 14 wins in 2006, but was later fired because of his toxic relationship with then-Chargers general manager A.J. Smith.
Lovie Smith's relationship with Bears general manager Phil Emery may have been slightly healthier, but not healthy enough for Emery to keep Smith.
At the time of the firing, Emery gave this explanation for letting Smith go, "Our No. 1 goal always has to be to win championships, and to win championships we have to be in contention on a consistent basis, and to be in contention we have to make the playoffs on a consistent basis," Emery said. "We've had defensive excellence, but during the course of coach Smith's years here, we've had one offense that was ranked in the top 15."
Emery further expounded this week on why he fired Smith, who won 10 games -- but missed the playoffs -- with the Bears in 2012.
"We were in a position where if he stayed, he would be picking his fifth offensive coordinator," Emery said, via TheMMQB.com. "Part of it was because I really believe looking at a team that if you're going to have success, the most important relationship is between the head coach and the quarterback."
That meant either Cutler or Smith had to go and Emery wasn't about to get rid of Cutler.
"I like our quarterback. I think Jay Cutler is very talented. He wants to improve," Emery said. "I know he needed to improve for us to be a championship team. When we were looking at making a change we knew that if we were going to do it we were going to make that the focus point. We had to work from that end."
Norv Turner led the Chargers to the AFC Championship game in 2007 after taking over for Schottenheimer. If new coach Marc Trestman can do that for the Bears, there's a good chance no one in Chicago will be second-guessing Emery anytime soon.
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