Alex Smith has huge issues Bears followers ought to take heed to
Alex Smith was very clear together with his issues about head coaches with a defensive background and younger quarterbacks, and Chicago Bears followers ought to concentrate.
Alex Smith will eternally be often known as the quarterback the San Francisco 49ers took No. 1 general within the 2005 NFL Draft as a substitute of Aaron Rodgers. Deep into his profession, he was changed by Patrick Mahomes because the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs quarterback.
However all in all, Smith can say he had an excellent, albeit distinctive in some ways, NFL profession. He can deliver an vital and broad perspective, and naturally, he’s doing a little work as an analyst.
Smith lately co-hosted on SiriusXM NFL radio. Through Joe Bucs Fan, he had some pointed feedback about head coaches with a background on the defensive aspect of the ball and the way younger quarterbacks develop underneath them.
There’s a completely different mentality, from my profession, while you play for an offensive head coach that wishes to gentle up the scoreboard and outscore the opponent,” Smith mentioned. “There’s a distinct mentality you could have, particularly as a younger quarterback versus a defensive head coach, when actually the [coach’s] mentality is ‘Hey, don’t screw up, don’t flip the ball over, don’t put us in a nasty state of affairs.’ … That’s an enormous distinction in a mentality and a mindset for a younger quarterback, particularly if it’s a bit rocky to begin.”
Smith went on to name out Jets head coach Robert Saleh by identify, with the clear failings to develop Zach Wilson.
Yeah, Robert Saleh, you’re an important defensive thoughts and coordinator, however like you don’t have any concept how you can develop a quarterback. The coordinator you employed by no means referred to as performs,” Smith mentioned. “In order that’s a very completely different animal. And as a lot as you suppose you’re ready to deal with that growth of a younger child, you’re simply not.”
Chicago Bears followers ought to clearly heed Alex Smith’s warning on Justin Fields
As a lot as Matt Nagy will not be head coach materials, he at the very least got here from an offensive background when the Chicago Bears drafted Justin Fields in 2021. After Nagy was fired, he was changed by former Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
Fields could have continuity at offensive coordinator this yr, with Luke Getsy again for a second season. But when the Bears’ offense has great success in 2023, as unlikely as that appears, Getsy could be in line for head teaching interviews.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk re-established the quandary of getting to switch the offensive coordinator when you could have a defensive head coach.
I’ve expressed a choice for offensive head coaches as a result of, if issues go nicely for the offense, the offensive coordinator will get a head-coaching job some place else — and the defensive coach should then go discover a new coordinator. With an offensive coach, if issues go nicely, the core partnership doesn’t change.
The Bears, as many groups do, went with the alternative of what they’d after they fired Nagy– swapping an offensive head coach for a defensive one. Their state of affairs a yr in the past was precisely just like the Jets when Saleh got here in there. Getsy had by no means referred to as performs earlier than within the NFL.
Bears followers mustn’t but quit on Eberflus, Fields and Getsy, individually or as a bunch. However Smith’s blunt feedback come from his personal expertise, with additional historical past to again it up.
So if Fields doesn’t develop as hoped, the finger can in all probability be pointed proper at a defensive head coach who didn’t know how you can get it carried out.
