The Chicago Bears announced that they're adding two years to the contract of head coach Lovie Smith. After the team's surprising performance over the course of the 2010, resulting in a division championship and a first-round bye in the playoffs, Chicago management thought that Smith was the man to get the team over the hump and back into a Super Bowl.
For the Packers, you can take this one of two ways. You could be worried: Smith is an above-average coach (win percentage of .563 in the regular season, .500 in the playoffs) who made it clear from day 1 that beating Green Bay is a top priority. He certainly did that during the early part of his tenure, going 7-3 against Green Bay between 2004 and 2008.
Or, you could be happy that we know what we'll get year-to-year. Since 2008, the series has evened out, and Lovie's record against the Packers (including the 2010 NFC Championship Game) overall stands at a tepid 8-7. The fact that this balancing out coincides with the ascension of Aaron Rodgers is less a product of Lovie's coaching and more of the fact that Chicago's defense is aging rapidly.
How are you taking the news as a Packer fan? Is Lovie an easy mark to take advantage of, or will he return to giving the Packers fits?