A big congrats to Bears coach Lovie Smith, for winning the AP NFL Coach of the Year award! He has done a tremendous job this year, in the face of a lot of adversity. First, his main quarterback gets injured in the preseason, and he's forced to decide which of his remaining quarterbacks to start with, finally choosing rookie Kyle Orton. Then, his top draft pick Cedric Benson holds out for more money at the start of the season and misses most of training camp. After that, no one had high hopes for the Bears, it was as if their season ended before it even started.

But lo and behold, Orton did ok as a quarterback, staying uninjured and started 10 games, something almost unheard of in Chicago where we have been cursed with bad, easily broken quarterbacks for more than a decade. Thomas Jones came out from what would have been Cedric Benson's shadow and became one of the best running backs in the league, helped out by the gritting play of Adrian Peterson.

...and that defense! The best defense in the league, rarely allowing touchdowns for the opposing offense and having the best red zone coverage of any of the other teams, only allowing 202 points this year, 45 points lower than the nearest team. The defense that constantly won various 'Defensive Player of the Week' awards, Nathan Vasher getting a record 108 yard touchdown after a missed field goal, and not only did Brian Urlacher get the Defensive Player of the Year award, his teammates Lance Briggs, Nathan Vasher and Alex Brown also received votes.

All of this under Lovie's watchful, calm as a cucumber eye. That's the thing that I love the most about him - he always keeps his cool. Rarely yells at the players, rarely jumps up to celebrate. His demeanor is the same after a loss as it is after a win. When there was an issue with two team members fighting, he managed to keep the press from getting details and dealt with it himself, only making the team stronger afterwards.

That's the kind of coach that people want to win for. Not because they're scared of being punished or getting yelled at, they win because they want to make someone that that they respect proud of them. They're doing it for Lovie, because each one of those guys on that field know that he's the best coach in the league.

Luckily, the AP reports figure that out, too...

Posted by Yano at January 7, 2006 12:52 PM

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