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NFL Chicago BearsTampa Bay Buccaneers

Lovie Smith, Josh McCown Ready To Prove Bears Wrong

By @14AdotWalsh

Lovie Smith Josh McCown Bucs

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers take on the Chicago Bears this Sunday at Soldier Field, it’s not just another game on the NFL schedule. The backstory of this contest features two Bucs that made an impact in Chicago, but whether the justification was valid or not, it wasn’t enough for them to stay. Neither man will tell you that this game means everything to them, but it certainly does.

Lovie Smith took over the Bears in 2004 and achieved great success going 81-63 (3-3 in playoffs) over the course of nine seasons. That first season in Chicago was Smith’s worst as he went 5-11, but the following two seasons they won the NFC North. In 2006, the Bears reached the Super Bowl but lost to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.

In the six seasons following the Super Bowl appearance, Chicago hovered around the .500 mark and was routinely labeled as underachievers. In 2010 they won the NFC North for the third time under Smith and went to the NFC Championship game against their divisional rival Green Bay Packers. Jay Cutler was injured early and the Bears struggled with the combination of Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie under center, eventually losing 21-14. If not for that injury to Cutler, a different story may have been written for Smith.

Not being able to land a full-time starting job for most of his NFL career, Josh McCown played for three different teams before coming to Chicago in 2011. He wasn’t the mainstay that Smith was, but finally made a significant impact with the Bears in 2013. When Cutler went down with an injury, the 35-year-old journeyman led the team to a 3-3 record, throwing 13 touchdowns and just one interception — some of the main reasons he was paid to come to Tampa.

Even with McCown’s rejuvenated play, Cutler took back the starting job in Week 15 because of all the zeros on his paycheck. Cutler would go 1-2 in the Bears’ final three games and miss the playoffs for the third straight season. It would be a tough decision for any coach to make, but now that all is said and done, it appears they made the wrong move in messing with the chemistry the team was building. McCown was a classy guy about the whole thing and never showed any hatred towards the Bears organization.

It will be interesting to see what kind of reaction Smith and McCown get in the Windy City, but one would have to think a standing ovation is in the works. It’s obvious that neither guy got a fair shake out of the deal, but in this era of unreasonably high expectations, not even the beer vendor’s job is safe anymore.

Most teams like the Bucs would salivate at the thought of three division titles in a nine-year span. On Sunday you can bet your bottom dollar that Smith and McCown’s troops will go to battle for them, and prove that the Bears’ hierarchy was quick to pull the trigger on the guys that lead them in the present day.

Alan Walsh is a Blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @14AdotWalsh. “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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