For so many years it was reasonable to debate which had done more damage to Chicago: Mrs. O’Leary’s cow or Brett Favre.
Then Lovie Smith came in as Bears coach and the mastery of the Bears that the Green Bay Packers enjoyed under Favre ended: 2-6 vs. Smith’s speed-based, single-gap 4-3 system.
Then Aaron Rodgers started and so did another Bears death spiral. Smith and Marc Trestman/Mel Tucker became the Washington Generals to Green Bay’s Globetrotters just as the Dave Wannstedt and Dick Jauron Bears had been.
Obviously coaches did not win or lose games. But Favre and the Packers did go from averaging 29 points per game over the 10-year pre-Smith era to almost exactly half that vs.