INSIDER
New 7th seed helps Bears 8 years too late for Lovie Smith
Read full article: New 7th seed helps Bears 8 years too late for Lovie SmithChicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy watches during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)While Matt Nagy gets to coach Chicago in the playoffs despite a middling 8-8 record that could help save his job, former Bears coach Lovie Smith can only wonder if the extra team in the postseason could have helped him eight years ago. Smith’s Bears teams from the beginning of last decade are near the top of that list. Chicago lost five of six and missed the postseason as the seventh seed with an 8-8 mark. The tough-luck missing playoff team that season was the Giants, who missed out the year before Eli Manning and Co. won their second Super Bowl under coach Tom Coughlin.