Trust me, in Lovie we no longer trust

Every time Lovie Smith speaks now, Norm on "Cheers" comes to mind.

"Once the trust goes out of a relationship," Norm said, "it's no fun lying to 'em anymore."

Around here that's only the second-most memorable remark with the "t" word in it.

"Trust me," Smith said two years ago after replacing defensive coordinator Ron Rivera with Bob Babich.

Trust me, folks, that move worked about as well as the Cubs' 100-year rebuilding plan has.

So now Smith, the Bears' head coach among suddenly other responsibilities, is asking us to trust him again. Not in so many words, of course. He wouldn't dare go there again.

Smith is back trying to repair the damage done by dumping Rivera, though he never would put that in those terms either.

Instead Smith called it "tweaking" the defense. It's more like dropping a smart bomb on the defense and wiping out everything but the head coach.

Still standing, Smith isn't lying to us now that the trust has gone out of our relationship. I prefer to believe he actually believes everything he says.

Smith revealed Tuesday that he's taking over the defensive signal-calling from Babich, who will return to coaching linebackers while keeping the coordinator's title.

Meanwhile, Rod Marinelli is the new defensive-line coach along with being the new assistant head coach.

Some tweaking, huh? You can't tell the coaches without a scorecard.

Smith has squandered all the trust he requested two years ago. Bears fans who complain about him not doing anything on the sideline during games - well, be careful what you wish for.

"I'm going to be more involved," he declared.

Is this good? Is more Lovie more or less an upgrade? Or is this just Smith groping for a cure for a disease he inflicted?

This latest development at Halas Hall reminds me of a conversation with a St. Louis columnist the year Smith went from Rams defensive coordinator to Bears head coach.

Smith's last Rams game was a playoff loss, and the impression down there was he failed to make the in-game adjustments required to win.

Smith hasn't called plays here, choosing instead to stand on the sidelines looking about as emotional and animated as an ice sculpture.

But now Smith intends to do more, for better or worse.

This is twice in three days that I brought the Babich-for-Rivera exchange into play. Until the defense returns to the Top Five in the NFL, Rivera will remain a symbol of the Bears' decline.

"We were 9-7," Smith said of the Bears' record this season. "That's not good enough."

All during the 9-7 season, however, Smith refused to say the Bears' defense was in regression, sort of like George Bush refusing to utter the recession word last year.

Once the Bears failed to qualify for the playoffs, Smith had no choice but to make major changes. But just as the government was late addressing the economy, Smith was late addressing his defense.

As for Babich, who had little chance to succeed, Smith said, "Bob is excited about being hands-on with the linebackers."

Yeah, right, and Hillary Clinton is excited about being Secretary of State instead of President. Babich was thrown under a bus Smith was driving.

Makes you wonder how the trust remains in their relationship.

mimrem@dailyherald.com