A year ago, after the 2009 season, when Lovie Smith addressed the media and the fans after a 7-9 season there was an almost unanimous call for Smith to fired. But the head coach, as always, remained confident that everything could be turned around.

The source of his confidence was also the source of the team’s NFC Championship run in 2010.

“Our system,” Smith said.

In an exclusive interview with Zach Zaidman Lovie talked about how the 2009 season didn’t shake his, or the team’s confidence that they could rebound in 2010.

LISTEN: Zach Zaidman’s Exclusive Interview With Lovie Smith

“You can make a case for why things happen,” Smith said. “When you go through your evaluations…we were close [in 2009], we played the Packers close, even though they beat us both times. You look at the San Francisco game, the Atlanta game, there were games that could have gone the other way…To me, you panic when you’re 2-14, when I say panic I mean there’s a lot of concern when you’re 2-14. But 7-9 can change quickly, which we said then. So again, I think it’s proven that our system works with what we’re doing. And we’re going to stay the course.”

And the Bears have echoed Smith’s mindset to stay the course by extending his contract through the 2013 season.