Lombardi: Smith-Emery Marriage Will Be 'Difficult'
(WSCR) With new general manager Phil Emery forced to retain head coach Lovie Smith, the two will have no choice but to work together.
Typically, a new general manager will bring in his own coach, however, the Bears have mandated that Smith will coach in 2012. Though neither side has given any indication they are unhappy with the situation, one NFL expert said it will be a difficult task for the two to see eye-to-eye.
"I think it's going to be difficult, especially if they don't share the philosophical understanding of players," Michael Lombardi of the NFL Network told The Mully and Hanley Show. "One thing about the system that we tried to do in Cleveland that they're still doing in New England, is we wanted to make sure that we had a certain style of player on our team at all times. When you look at the Tampa way, and what Lovie is accustomed to, I think it's a little bit different. I think there's going to have to be a marriage, an integration, of where those two things come together. They're going to have to see eye-to-eye.
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Lombardi did say that as soon as Smith and Emery get on the same page, everything could fall right into place.
"It's never about disagreeing," Lombardi. "It's about sharing a philosophical understanding with your coach. Once you do that, those other problems become rather easy because now, all of the sudden, you've crossed the line. This guy either fits our philosophy or he doesn't. It's not a question of whether he can play or he can't."
