Earl Bennett Lambastes Lovie Smith for the Mike Tice Hire

Earl Bennett was never what one might call a big fan of former Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith. The ex-wide receiver respected the man, sure, but the two never had any strong connections since he’d been drafted in 2008. Not a surprise. This was often the case for most offensive players since Smith was a defensive specialist and that’s where his focus always was in Chicago.

It is a major contributing factor to why the Bears had four different offensive coordinators during his nine seasons in charge. Bennett was on hand for two of those changes. The first being from Ron Turner to Mike Martz in 2010. However, the retired receiver believes the far bigger blunder that ended up costing the franchise dearly came two years later.

Bennett explained in a recent article about how the 2011 season ended. One where the offense struggled down the stretch following the injury to Jay Cutler. He had just delivered one of the best highlights of his career, a 49-yard catch and run against Green Bay to set up a touchdown. It was a play that caught the eye of Smith. After the game, the coach requested they meet.

It was the first time this had happened in Bennett’s career. Keep in mind he was in his fourth season by that point.

Earl Bennett claims Lovie Smith was planning an OC change already

Where it gets really interesting is what happens next. Smith departed from his usual pleasantries and got right to the point, asking a searching question of Bennett regarding his thoughts on the game. After answering, it was then the coach revealed plans for a big change in the near future.

Coach Smith asked how my body felt and if was I frustrated with the outcome of the game. My response was “I was upset with the result, but we have better football ahead of us.” The next few words that came out of his mouth surprised me. Coach Smith states “we are going to get someone in here to call plays to get you the ball.”

That is quite a revelation. It meant that Smith had already reached the conclusion to fire Martz as the end of the season. A surprising move given how much success the offensive coordinator was having with Cutler before the quarterback got hurt. It’s clear Smith was not satisfied with how Martz had adjusted the offense after that happened.

Bennett?

He was shocked, but also hopeful that maybe this time the head coach would get it right. He could find somebody who might understand how to use the receiver’s particular talents.

“Anticipation filled my heart as the season ended. Coach Smith has elected an offensive coordinator. Wait, it’s only been a few days since the firing of Mike Martz. How did he select someone so fast? We all wondered while sitting in the room. To learn that the new offensive coordinator was hired from within and was the offensive line coach.

Unfortunately, this rudimentary hire would be career ending for a lot of Bears personnel: the coaches, some players and unfortunately one more season for myself.”

He is, of course, referring to Mike Tice who had been the Bears’ offensive line coach at that point in time. The move was a headscratcher from all sides. Not just because Tice had never called plays in his life, but also because Smith hadn’t even bothered to conduct a proper search for options elsewhere.

This when guys like Bruce Arians and Jim Caldwell were available. Men with far greater experience and credibility at such a job. In the end, Smith kept his promise though. Sort of. Bennett was targeted 49 times in 2012 compared to 43 the previous year. Yet that change ended up costing the entire team, especially Smith himself who was fired at season’s end.