I Thought Everyone Was Taking Crazy Pills, But Then Lovie Restored My Faith

This entire season I have been saying that Bob Babich is terrible. I said it before the mainstream media picked up on it, and I continued harping on it all season. I wasn't exactly being extremely insightful or anything. It was obvious to everyone that the Bears defense was not what it used to be. But why? Babich was bad for one of two reasons, or maybe both.

The first is the system. Rivera brought his own flair to the Cover 2. He clearly wasn't a Cover 2 guy, as seen by his success in San Diego in a completely different system. Either way he threw in different coverage schemes, different stunts on the line, and generally was very creative. Babich was the opposite. He threw a basic Cover 2 out there and didn't mix up the schemes at all. Opposing teams knew what was coming for the most part, and picked apart the Bears in the seams of the Cover 2. The only thing Babich tried to do was put everyone on the line to try to confuse quarterbacks. The only problem with that was they did it EVERY TIME so teams were able to adjust. Not only that, but it gave tight ends and running backs coming out of the backfield an extra step as Urlacher and Briggs tried to drop back from the line.

The second reason was motivation. The Bears defense that had been ferocious and opportunistic turned into a lifeless bunch that was painful to watch. Babich could not seem to instill the fire and aggressiveness that had defined the Bears in previous years. They were still able create a lot of turnovers this season. Where they differed from past years is when their backs were up against the wall, it seemed like they couldn't get the big stops. There was no real spine.

Did Lovie not see it? How could he have missed it? It seemed like he was oblivious, or else he realized it but he was going to protect his boy Babich. Well I have good news for Lovie, Babich, the Bears, and Chicagoans; Lovie is going to take over the play-calling on defense:

Smith will handle play-calling duties this coming season with Bob Babich remaining the defensive coordinator while returning to his roots as the team's linebackers coach. The staff was filled out Tuesday morning with the addition of Jon Hoke as secondary coach.

"I have been involved a little bit,'' Smith said this afternoon on a teleconference. "My involvement will be a lot more now. For some reason offensive coaches, there are quite a few offensive coaches that [call plays]. There are not a lot of defensive guys. I think this is what will help us get back to where we need to be.''

This is a great solution for all parties. Babich does not take a ceremonial demotion and stays defensive coordinator, at least in name. The defense gets new life from Lovie, who knows the Cover 2 and how to make it work from his days in Tampa and St. Louis. It's win-win for everyone. While my faith in Lovie has wavered at times this season, he has once again proven how he is a great manager of people. Babich keeps some pride, while at the same time the defense gets better play-calling.

With Marinelli at his side, hopefully Lovie can turn this defense around. Whew. I don't think I could have put up with another season of Babich.

Today's Links-Too Many Links Edition

• Illini get a big win against Purdue on the road. They're on the map.
• The Hawks streak finally ends against the Wings, but hopefully will just be a minor bump in the road. I guess they didn't have a lot of 'kills' tonight.
  
• Apparently Drew Gooden is going to start blogging. Welcome to the blogosphere Drew. Unfortunately his first post wasn't very interesting, but hopefully he'll write some crazy stuff soon.
• Fake Ron Turner press conference following the Bears game.
  
• Worst columnist predications of 2008. Hilarious.
  
• The Denver Broncos fired Mike Shanahan. It appears no NFL coach is safe these days.
• Looks like the Cubs are about to deal Marquis to the Rockies for Luis Vizcaino, but mostly they'll be getting $5 million dollars in salary relief.
• Babich and Orton don't have much job security either. Apparently Angelo is interested in Marinelli too.
  
• So Hinrich will be coming back sooner than we thought. Obviously that's a good thing, but with the glut of guards, it may cause more problems than it solves.
• Did the Heat disrespect the Bulls the other night? It appears they did.
  

If We Fire Babich (Fingers Crossed), There Are Some Good Options Out There

Unimaginitive, boring, unprepared, unable to make adjustments, weird-looking. All words used to describe Bob Babich, our defensive coordinator. Ron Rivera, Babich's predecessor, was a great defensive coordinator. He bought into Lovie's Cover 2 but was able to make adjustments that were tailored specifically to the personnel he was working with. In all fairness to Babich, the talent level on this defense is significantly less than it was under Rivera. What made Rivera great, however, was his ability to change the game plan to utilize his players' strengths. Babich has struggled with that.

Anyways, Windy City Gridiron made some interesting suggestions about who would be a good replacement, IF the Bears were to can Babich. With all the firings that just occurred in the NFL the last few weeks, there are some very appealing options:

Rod Marinelli: I know I know, the Lions were 0-16. Marinelli was not entirely to blame for that. If you want to talk about a lack of talent to work with, no one had it tougher than Rod. Also, the players never quit on him, they played hard for 17 weeks, even through an abysmal season. The Bears defense has looked uninspired at best for most of the season, and someone who could get them to play with more heart may resolve a lot of the issues.

Eric Mangini: The Mangenius choked in New York, but he was known as a defensive mastermind with the Patriots and even had some good Jets defenses the last few years. He might be a possibility. The only issue with him was his disloyalty to the Patriots and of course his involvement with spygate.

Romeo Crennel: Another former Patriots defensive coordinator, Romeo struggled in Cleveland (as most coaches have the past 50 years). I don't know too much about him, but he seemed to thrive as a defensive coordinator in New England and there's no reason to think he couldn't do that in Chicago.

Overall, I think the main issue will be Lovie's adherence to the Cover 2. I'm not sure that any of these guys are married to it like Lovie is. Whoever comes in would have to understand that the majority of things that are run in Chicago are run out of a base Cover 2. I assume all of these defensive minds would be capable of putting their stamp on the Cover 2 and working within it, but I'm not sure. No matter what happens, we can all only hope that this was Babich's last season.