Hesitating to extend Lovie could prove costly

No sooner did the Gatorade dry from Lovie Smith’s jacket following the NFC Championship celebration at Soldier Field, did the rumors start swirling about his future in the Windy City.

While Monday should have been a day of reflection and acknowledgement towards Smith and Tony Dungy for breaking the Super Bowl’s head coaching color barrier, Bill Parcells and his ego dominated the headlines.

Parcells realized the game had passed him by and that he wasn’t living up to his end of the bargain after winning a total of zero playoff games in four seasons. He’s lost his fire and his players had thoughts of going Latrell Sprewell—P.J. Carlesimo on him. But his decision could have waited at least one more day out of respect to his colleagues.

Now that the dominoes have fallen following his departure, the Chicago Bears are looking at a potentially serious problem. It’s no secret that Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones won’t hesitate to throw outrageous money at a big name coach that he feels can guide his franchise back to glory, and there is no bigger name right now than Lovie Smith.

On the field, Smith took the leftover liabilities he inherited from Dick Jauron’s staff and incorporated them into a winning brand of football. Granted, two of those players happened to be All-World center Olin Kreutz and linebacker Brian Urlacher. Beyond that, he has shown a knack for developing young talent such as Rex Grossman, Bernard Berrian, Tommie Harris and Nathan Vasher.

Off the field, Smith is extremely focused and detail-oriented. The day after the Bears were thumped by the Green Bay Packers in the last game of the regular season Smith handed each player a calendar with the day-by-day schedule leading up to Super Bowl XLI. He has the respect and love of his players and won’t tolerate a lack of focus on the biggest stage.

In 2006, he showed that he isn’t afraid to take risks or listen to scrutiny. He stuck by Grossman in the same manner whether he was playing like Brett Favre or Jonathan Quinn.

Smith hails from Big Sandy, Texas, not far from Dallas. He grew up a Cowboys fan and his mother had dreams of seeing her son coaching the Cowboys one day.

Now that Mae’s boy has taken his team to a Super Bowl as the lowest paid coach in the league, he’s due for a substantial raise. Consider that Parcells walked away from a contract where he was making roughly four times that of Smith.

Bears’ president Ted Phillips insists that he has met with Smith’s agent, Frank Bauer, and discussions are under way. However, there seems to be a mutual agreement to put off negotiations until after the big show in Miami. This could be a costly mistake for Phillips and the Bears organization.

Why wait for two weeks to come and go? Why subject the team and its coach to the same questions from the media and the national distraction day after day when they should be preparing for the biggest game of their lives without this sideshow?

Phillips and general manager Jerry Angelo should extend Smith’s contract on Sunday, January 28, one week before he attempts to join Mike Ditka in Chicago immortality. During the two-week hype fest leading up to the big game, players either get bored or get overanxious to finally take the field. When many feel they should be playing in one week’s time, the Bears should make the headlines and give the team something to rally around before they migrate south.

The real mistake would be waiting to see if Smith’s heart leads him back home. His departure would have a crippling affect on a franchise primed for sustained success.

Show Lovie the money and show him now.