Chicago was good, but Lovie lovin' it in Tampa

If first-year Tampa Bay Bucs head coach Lovie Smith has any regrets from his nine years as the Bears' head coach, he's not saying.

"I'm proud of everything we were able to do," said Smith, whose 2-8 team visits Soldier Field on Sunday to face the 4-6 Bears. "I loved my time there. I loved the organization that I worked for and the opportunity that they gave me. But as much as anything, (it was) the players that I got a chance to lead and to coach.

"The lifetime memories, the lifetime relationships that I was able to form from being there, of course that's what will stay with me forever."

Only 13 players who played for Smith remain on the Bears' 53-man roster. Among the most notable are linebacker Lance Briggs, who made the Pro Bowl seven times while playing in Smith's defense.

Smith credits players like Briggs for his success in building an 81-63 record with the Bears, which included three NFC North titles, two NFC title-game appearances and a berth in Super Bowl XLI.

"When you come into a new program, which we've had to do here, you lay out the blueprint on how we're going to do things," Smith said. "What would be our philosophy - just how we're going to win football games.

"So I laid that out (with the Bears), and we had guys who bought into it right away. A lot of (them were) students of the game, a lot of good players.

"From there, you just start building each day and working to get better. And we did that. Initially we had a few tough times early on. But after we got going, things really turned around quickly."

After a 5-11 debut in 2004, Smith's second team went 11-5. But he was fired after his 2012 team finished 10-6 but failed to make the playoffs for the fifth time in six years. Public opinion of Smith was split when he was fired and remains divided now, but there's no doubt where Briggs stands.

"Lovie should be remembered as one of the great coaches in Chicago," the 12-year veteran said. "George Halas, you have Mike Ditka, and Lovie Smith comes next."

In his final two seasons as Bears head coach, Smith's teams were a combined 18-14. To match that mark, Marc Trestman's team would have to win its final six games. In Smith's third season, the Bears went to the Super Bowl.

That's obviously one of the highlights of his administration. But Smith's fondest recollections aren't so much on individual moments and games as the general atmosphere he was instrumental in creating.

"When you're in a place for nine years coaching a team, you can't really point out just a few things," he said. "You just kind of formed everything. And for me, being my first head-coaching job, all of my philosophies and things that I thought I believed in, I got a chance to see.

"Every imaginable situation you can be in as a head football coach, I feel like I had a chance to be in there. (From) coaching the Hall of Fame game to a Super Bowl. Besides winning a Super Bowl, I got a chance to witness and be a part of just about everything you could want to as a coach."

Smith believes he's well-remembered for his tenure in Chicago, but that will only go so far Sunday.

"I know how I'm remembered there," he said. "As I come in Sunday, I'm coming in as an opposing coach. That's how I'm looking at it. The year I had off (2013) and just being in Chicago for nine years, I don't need anything validated this week.

"Fans were great to me and my family while we were there, administration was. I have lifetime friends on the Chicago Bears football team. I have all those things right now. (But) I'm an opposing coach on the other side of the field coming in this week."

With an opportunity to be critical of his detractors, Smith took the approach he always did as Bears coach, that his glass was half full.

"To be at a place for nine years in the NFL is pretty good," he said. "I enjoyed every second I had there. A part of life is that sometimes you move on to other places. The best job I've always had has always been my next job.

"I couldn't be happier than where I am now."

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