Don’t look now, but Bears head coach Lovie Smith has taken a page from Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville’s book and is now sporting facial hair.
“Right now, we’re in the first quarter of growing a mustache,” said Smith. “There’s still a long way to go, but we feel that it’s a promising start and someday I’ll look just like Coach Q. People love him! Why not me?”
Big sweeping changes have been the early story of this offseason. Jerry Angelo has been fired and team president Ted Phillips is in search of a new GM. Mike Martz is also gone and O-line coach Mike Tice has been promoted as his replacement. Now a newly-mustachioed Smith is the latest change seen around Halas Hall.
“We just felt it was time to go in a different direction in terms of our face,” explained Smith. “Our main goal has always been to win the Super Bowl. And as we all know, the city of Chicago has always had a long-standing tradition of coaches with facial hair winning championships.”
At the latest Bears press conference, Lovie deflected other questions on possible General Manager and Passing Coordinator candidates, focusing solely on his new face fuzz.
“Perhaps a full beard will be here in due time, but for now, we like our mustache. We feel very comfortable with our mustache. We believe that our mustache gives us the best chance to win in 2012,” Smith said.
When asked if Lovie will try to shape his mustache in the mold of Michael Jordan’s infamous “Hanes” commercial, Smith’s demeanor visibly soured.
“What kind of a question is that, anyway, at this time?” a frustrated Smith asked. “What kind of a question is that? Why would you ask a question like that any way?” Smith then walked away, ending the press conference.
Photoshop by Pat Lamorte
