No confusing demeanors of Rams' Haslett with Bears' Smith

When's the last time you heard Bears coach Lovie Smith speak poorly of any of his players, either publicly or through back channels?

Heck, when's the last time you heard Smith even raise his voice?

If you answered never to each question, move to the front of the line.

And if you're one of those old-school Bears fans still pining for a miraculous second coming of Da Coach, Smith's constant stoicism probably drives you nuts, especially coming off an absolute thumping last Sunday in Green Bay.

We move on ...

Now, when's the last time interim St. Louis Rams coach Jim Haslett raised his voice to his players to let them know their poor play (2-8) has many of them teetering on thin ice?

If you answered during a practice session earlier this week ... ding, ding, ding!

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Haslett lit into his players during practice, promising to yank those who don't perform right out of the lineup.

"He's blunt. He's a straight shooter," cornerback Ron Bartell told the Post-Dispatch. "He's calling guys out, which I agree with."

And Haslett also seems to be taking notes for next year.

"The way I see it now is that very few people-on-this-team's job is safe," defensive end Leonard Little said. "You just don't know what's going to happen next year. More than likely, they might get rid of the whole team besides a couple of players."

Haslett and Smith.

Fire and ice.

Neither extreme has produced the desired results thus far this season.

We know all about Smith's travails, but what's happened to Haslett and the Rams after getting off to such a promising start?

When Haslett, who was the Rams' defensive coordinator, was named to replace Scott Linehan four winless games into the season, it looked like his fiery ways were just what the lethargic Rams needed.

They promptly went out and beat Washington and Dallas, and only lost by 7 points to New England on the road.

"The big thing was we changed kind of the mind-set in the building, the people in here and the players," Haslett said of his early success.

But then the bottom fell out. In their last three games, the Rams have been outscored 116-32. More astonishingly, it's been 99-10 at halftime combined, prompting speculation that the team had quit.

"When coach Haslett took over, we had 2 big wins against Dallas and Washington and then we kind of threw it all on the line after New England," quarterback Marc Bulger said during a conference call. "These last two weeks have been disappointing, but we have had some new life since coach Haslett took over.

"One of the things we'll never do as long as he's coach is quit. We're going to play our guts out for him and that starts again this week (against the Bears)."

With no chance of having a winning season and the possibility of being eliminated from the playoffs looming, Haslett knows keeping his troops motivated the rest of the way won't be an easy task.

"It's a grind, but I think they understand what we're looking for," Haslett said. "It's my job to be a constant reminder to get those guys to play hard. I think in this business, even the great teams have a great confidence and swagger about them. They kind of play that way and the teams that are losing, they don't.

"Obviously, winning games kind of takes care of that, but when you're struggling like we are right now, you've just got to find a way to get it done."