Lovie finally comments on Tice appointment

INDIANAPOLIS -- After 48 days, Bears coach Lovie Smith finally weighed in on his decision to promote last season’s offensive line coach Mike Tice to offensive coordinator.

Just days after Mike Martz and the Bears decided to go their separate ways following an 8-8 2011 season, Tice was named the successor on Jan. 6. But it wasn’t until Thursday at the Scouting Combine that Smith spoke publicly about the move.

“I wouldn’t have made a change unless I thought that we needed to go in (a different) direction,” Smith said. “Mike (Martz) and I have a long history together, but we did need to go in a different direction, and I thought we needed different leadership.

“When you finish the season, I always look at what I think we need to do to take another step. I thought this is what we needed to do, making the change at that position.”

Smith didn’t have to look far. No one else was brought in from the outside to interview for the job.

“I’ve had a chance to see Mike (Tice) in a lot of different roles with what he was able to do with the offensive line,” Smith said. “Mike will be a good fit. Through the interview process with Mike, I like everything he did, and that’s why I made the move as quickly as I did. Initially, there’s always a plan to look at as many guys as possible with every position. But once I find the right guy, I normally shut it down from there, and that’s what happened with Mike.”

It’s expected that the Bears will run the ball more frequently this season. And there will absolutely be fewer of the five- and seven-step drops that jeopardized the health of Bears quarterbacks and put way too much pressure on an offensive line that wasn’t good enough to pass protect long enough for those plays to develop.

But Tice intends to retain much of playbook and terminology that the Bears used the previous two seasons under Martz.

“We’re just trying to score as many points as we possibly can,” Smith said. “As far

as which way we do it, we can debate that. I’m on record about my feelings about having a strong running game, though. And we have a great running back in Matt Forte.

“But you have to be able to throw the ball too, and of course we are going to try to strengthen that as much as we can. As far as philosophy, that’s what it is, ball control, protect the football, ball security, all that. All of those things -- if you just look at my eight years here -- put them together. I think you can come up with a plan on what we’re trying to do.”

Smith didn’t coin the phrase, “Get off the bus running,” but he popularized the idea, although in the two years with Martz at the offensive controls, it was more lip service than philosophy. The hope is that the 2012 offense will be able to attack through the air and on the ground with equal efficiency.

But the idea that the offense will struggle through any kind of transition period under Tice is not a consideration according to Smith – especially after one postseason appearance in five years.

“Now how would that look for me to come here and say, ‘Hey, be patient, we’re

going to have growing pains,’ ” Smith said. “I don’t think anyone is looking to give us that, and we’re not looking for that. We expect to be a good football team next year

right away, and I think we have the core in place to do that.”

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