Week 3 Bears Preview: Lovie Smith Returns With the Winless Texans
Bears to take on former head coach for the first time since 2015
What a time it was.
Lovie Smith spent nine seasons in the city of Chicago, winning 81 games and leading the Chicago Bears to three playoff births, highlighted by a Super Bowl appearance to end the 2006 season.
Since then, Smith has coached for three different organizations, he held the head coaching position for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014 and 2015 and faced the Bears in both of those seasons with Chicago coming out on top in both contests.
Following his time in Tampa, Smith went on to coach the Illini in Champaign for four seasons before joining the Houston Texans in 2021. Smith was first the associate head coach and defensive coordinator and in 2022 he was promoted to head coach.
Lovie, who now sports a big gray beard, was asked on Wednesday if he looks back at his time in Chicago fondly.
“Absolutely, I get a chance of having my dream job here because of my start there,” the 64-year-old said.
As for the Bears, they have hired and fired three different coaches since Smith and have finished a season with double-digit wins just once since relieving Smith of his duties in 2012 after a 10-6 season that didn’t end in the playoffs.
Hall of Famers and the Great Shortage
Both the Bears and the Texans are entering Week 3 hungry after a pair of disappointing losses at the hands of future hall of fame quarterbacks.
Houston, sitting at 0-1-1, was defeated by Russell Wilson and the Broncos by a score of 16-9 in their last time out and we’ve covered the latest disappointing Bears effort on Sunday night against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
During and after the Bears' defeat, many took to social media to criticize the team’s lack of pass attempts. Justin Fields threw only 11 passes against Green Bay, completing seven for 70 yards.
On Wednesday, offensive coordinator Luke Getsy was asked about the passing situation in the week two loss.
“I mean we only had 42 plays, called 19 or 20 passes. So that's pretty spot on to how we wanted to play that game,” Getsy said. “That's part of it, it's our job each week as we evaluate the opponent what gives us the best chance to succeed, where our match-up is favorable to us.”
During his turn with the media Fields expressed his confidence in Getsy and his game plans.
“If these are the plays that he thinks are going to win us the game, then I’m all with it,” said Fields.
This match-up against the Texans may be what a Bears pass thrower needs. The last time the Bears faced Houston was in 2020, a game that saw one of Mitchell Trubisky’s best games. The now-maligned Pittsburgh Steeler threw for three touchdowns in a 36-7 thrashing.
Running of the Bulls…and Bears
With what happened last week in the Texans’ loss to the Broncos, Luke Getsy might not want to change his game plan this week.
Denver’s running backs, Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon III, ran for a total of 149 rushing yards.
That will definitely make Bears running back David Montgomery’s mouth water with him coming off a standout performance against Green Bay, running for 122 yards while averaging 8.1 yards per carry.
Staying on the running backs, a Texans player to watch might be their rookie ball carrier, Dameon Pierce. Following an underwhelming debut that saw the University of Florida product run for only 33 rush yards on 11 carries in the season opener, he racked up 69 rush yards against Denver.
Momentum in Motion
Let's face it, everyone was disappointed with the Bears' loss versus the Packers but they were not surprised. They are just not there yet.
But with a victory in this game against Houston the Bears could push themselves in a positive direction that could have a lasting impact All of a sudden you could be heading to New York with a 2-1 record with a decent possibility of being 3-1. You never know.
But expect the team to take things one game at a time, of course, and this one is absolutely winnable.
Head coach Matt Eberflus will be the first to tell you that the Bears have a good shot this week. In his career as a professional coach, his teams are 7-2 against the Texans.
Kickoff on Sunday is set for noon.
Bear Tracks
Coach Eberflus named safety Eddie Jackson the honorary captain for this week's match-up.
Bears players that have been ruled out due to injury this week include Roquan Smith (hip), cornerback Jaylen Johnson (quadriceps), and wide receiver Velus Jones (hamstring).
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Saul Rodriguez is WARR Media’s associate producer and lead Bears reporter