DETROIT — Lovie Smith is confident he will be back to coach the Chicago Bears.
DETROIT — Lovie Smith is confident he will be back to coach the Chicago Bears. "Until someone tells me otherwise," he said. The Bears beat the Detroit Lions 37-23 on Sunday and failed to make the playoffs for the third straight season after advancing to the Super Bowl. Smith planned to make Monday business as usual. "After the game I normally come to work, trying to improve our ballclub," he said. "I’ll do the same thing." Chicago opened the season 3-1 and won its last two games, but a 2-8 slump in the middle doomed a season that started with high expectations. "All of us didn’t do as good a job as we needed to, starting with me," Smith said. "As a head football coach, I didn’t do as good a job as I needed to." Devin Hester, though, said Smith shouldn’t take the heat. "It’s all on the players," Hester said. "When the players don’t make plays, people point fingers." When Chicago fell to 5-9 two weeks ago at Baltimore, general manager Jerry Angelo shot down a report indicating Smith would be back for a seventh season. The Bears owe Smith $11 million for the next two seasons and Angelo insisted money won’t affect the decision. Many blamed Jay Cutler as Chicago struggled to meet expectations, though he showed Sunday why his arm generated hope when he was acquired before the season. Cutler matched a career high for a second straight week with four touchdown passes. He was 22 of 36 for 276 yards and didn’t throw an interception against Detroit for the second time this season and for the fourth game with the Bears. His arrival in a trade with Denver generated a buzz, but his NFL-high 26 interceptions led to a lackluster season for the team. "We’ve got to get that other number down," Cutler said. "It’s the bottom line." Indeed. Cutler had 16 TDs and just three interceptions in Chicago’s seven wins. In its nine losses, he had 11 TDs and 23 interceptions. While Chicago waits for Smith’s future to be cleared up, Jim Schwartz will definitely be back for a second season to sort through the mess he inherited in Detroit. "This isn’t about coaching," kicker Jason Hanson said. "We went 0-16 with one coach and 2-14 with another coach, and that’s unacceptable." Detroit set a league record with 30 losses over two seasons. The Lions gave up 517 points in 2008, the second most in a season, and allowed 494 this year, ranking fourth worst, according to STATS. Detroit has won just three games since midway through the 2007 season in what has been the worst 40-game stretch since the Dayton Triangles were slightly less successful during the 1920s, according to STATS. The Lions’ 33-111 record since 2001 — when ex-general manager Matt Millen turned a lackluster franchise into a laughingstock — is the poorest nine-season stretch by an NFL team since World War II. "I’m sick of losing," said linebacker Ernie Sims, who has endured much of it during his four-year career. The Lions had a shot to beat the Bears, but they simply couldn’t stop Cutler. "We had a lot of chances to do good things, and we continued to make mistakes that cost us," Schwartz said. Cutler threw a 1-yard pass to a wide-open Clark to give Chicago a 27-20 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Daunte Culpepper overthrew Calvin on the ensuing drive and Detroit settled for a field goal and a four-point deficit. Chicago then sealed the victory with Cutler’s second TD pass to Devin Aromashodu, who scored the winning TD on Monday night against Minnesota. The Lions will have the No. 2 pick overall in the NFL draft because they finished ahead of only St. Louis, who avoided joining Detroit’s dubious distinction with a win in the Motor City this season. "Let’s put this one to bed before we chart any progress," Schwartz said. "We won two games, so there’s nothing to point to positive about that." Notes: Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner said he expects to be back next season. … Matt Forte ran for 100 yards for just the second time this season, and not coincidentally, both games were against Detroit. … Greg Olsen had five receptions for a career-high 94 yards, breaking his previous mark that was set against Detroit last season. … Culpepper, perhaps auditioning for a job elsewhere next season, was 23 of 34 for 262 yards with two scores and an interception. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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