During the last two seasons, during which Lovie Smith was proving himself to the Bears, only Tony Dungy’s Indianapolis Colts won more games.
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Smith’s Bears won more games than Seattle’s Mike Holmgren, Denver’s Mike Shanahan, Washington’s Joe Gibbs, Baltimore’s Brian Billick, New England’s Bill Belichick, Philadelphia’s Andy Reid, Carolina’s John Fox and Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher. Along with Dungy and Atlanta’s new hire Bobby Petrino, those are believed to be the 10 highest-paid coaches in the NFL, with Fisher also in line for a new contract.
The Bears’ latest offer to Smith is believed to be above $4 million per year, but it isn’t in the $5 million neighborhood that distinguishes the upper third of the league’s coaches. In other words, the two sides might not be as far apart as Smith’s agent, Frank Bauer, has said.
There is no verified list of coaching salaries. Holmgren’s reported $8 million per year is widely acknowledged as the league leader, but Seahawks owner Paul Allen, the NFL’s richest owner and one of the world’s richest men, doesn’t reveal the real numbers.
Nobody disputes Smith’s scheduled $1.45 million for 2007 would keep him at No. 32, the same spot where he coached last season at $1.35 million. The Bears are willing to move Smith up the ladder, obviously, but the holdup appears to be whether they are willing to pay what Smith now sees as “market” price.
Billick just signed a five-year, $28 million deal. Fox signed a five-year, $25 million deal. Petrino signed a five-year, $24 million deal out of college. If the Bears had offered those kinds of numbers, the deal probably would be done by now. The irony is the longer the Bears wait, the higher the market goes, which is exactly the risk team President Ted Phillips said he was willing to take last March. When Fisher, who also has lost one Super Bowl, signs a new deal, the price will go up again.
Because both the Bears and Smith publicly claim to like each other and it would serve neither party for Smith to coach in 2007 as a lame duck, Smith’s professed “confidence” that he will get a new contract appears more likely than Bauer’s notion that it will take an “unforeseen breakthrough.”
If Smith coached at $1.45 million and left, it might take a while for him to make up the money he would leave on the table. However, he has more leverage than usual in cases like this because his record is better than good and he would remain an extremely attractive candidate on the 2008 open market. Even if his 2007 Bears fell flat on their faces, Smith would be perceived as a sympathetic, principled figure carrying none of the baggage of a recycled coach.
The Bears, on the other hand, would be faced with the problem of replacing a successful and popular coach and starting over while current players and potential free agents plus assistant coaches and other front office personnel are questioning the team’s motives.
And general manager Jerry Angelo would have to wonder whether he is getting paid enough to find another coach who could go 31-21 and get to a Super Bowl in his third season.
Quarterbacks again
It’s not a great year for quarterbacks in the draft, “weak” according to Angelo, even though LSU’s Jamarcus Russell and Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn could go 1-2. So the Bears’ chances of finding a Tom Brady in the sixth round probably aren’t any better than finding a Vince Young or Matt Leinart or Jay Cutler in the first round.
Not that the Bears are looking for another quarterback.
Angelo ruled out 37-year-old free agent Jeff Garcia from the Eagles. Angelo also accused critics of incumbent Rex Grossman of “ludicrous scrutiny.”
“I’m understanding he has his flaws, but there’s a difference between piling on and dirty pool and I thought a lot of the media went over the line,” Angelo said.
Angelo does not expect the heat to dissipate one degree. The achievement of getting to a Super Bowl is totally if unfairly wiped out by the failure to win it.
Only three quarterbacks in Super Bowl history have come back to win the Big Game after losing their first time–Len Dawson, Bob Griese and John Elway. All three are in the Hall of Fame. Roger Staubach won his first, lost his second, won his third, lost his fourth and is also in the Hall of Fame.
The Chiefs’ Dawson played in the first and fourth Super Bowls and the Dolphins’ Griese lost the sixth and won the seventh and eighth. So Elway and Staubach are the only quarterbacks in the last 33 years to rebound from a Super Bowl loss.
Another way to put it: the losing quarterbacks in 36 of the first 40 Super Bowls have not come back to win one. Only eight are still active–Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck, Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb, Carolina’s Jake Delhomme, St. Louis’ Kurt Warner (now with Arizona), New York Giants’ Kerry Collins (now with Tennessee), Tennessee’s Steve McNair (now with Baltimore), Green Bay’s Brett Favre and New England’s Drew Bledsoe (now with Dallas).
In Grossman’s favor is his youth and inexperience. Of all the quarterbacks who have lost a Super Bowl, only Delhomme in 2003 regular season and the Los Angeles Rams’ Vince Ferragamo in 1979 had fewer career starts than Grossman.
There is time to bounce back, even if so few have. Because Grossman already has been to a Super Bowl, there is nothing more he ever can accomplish except to win one. That kind of harsh reality tends to irritate at least as much as inspire.
Angelo said he liked the way Grossman handled criticism and said he told him during the season, “You know Rex, playing on Sunday has to be a piece of cake. At least you can see the enemy and you know what you have to do.”
“That [criticism] had some part in toughening him up,” Angelo said. “And I’m anxious to see now when he goes into next season . . . because a big part of what I learned about the quarterback position, particularly here–and maybe the same can be said when I was in New York and Phil Simms was there–you have to be able to deal with the media. You have to have thick skin. If you don’t have thick skin, don’t come to work.
“I am confident he does.”
Sharing the load
So Thomas Jones wants to go someplace where he can be the featured back and not have to share time with somebody like Cedric Benson?
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First of all, sharing time with somebody like Benson appears to be pretty much a full-time job.
Second, the NFL trend at that position clearly is job-sharing. In case Jones didn’t notice, the Colts won the Super Bowl with rookie Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes taking turns tearing up the Bears’ defense.
This was after Dungy was asked how on earth he ever would replace workhorse Edgerrin James.
The New Orleans Saints jumped from 3-13 to 10-6 and got to the NFC title game when Deuce McAllister got help from rookie Reggie Bush.
The New England Patriots got to the AFC title game when rookie Laurence Maroney spelled veteran Corey Dillon.
The defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers failed to make the playoffs after Jerome Bettis retired and they couldn’t replace him with anybody to provide adequate help for Willie Parker.
The defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks faltered after league MVP Shaun Alexander got hurt and Mo Morris couldn’t go it alone.
It will be interesting to see how long Kansas City’s Larry Johnson, or even San Diego’s MVP LaDainian Tomlinson can keep up the heavy workload.
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