A month ago, things were looking bright at Halas Hall.  The Bears had started 7-1 and looked to be running away with the NFC North.  4 weeks later, they are now 8-4 and are 10 minutes and 14 points away from 8-5.  The late season fade has been a recurring theme in the later seasons of the Lovie Smith era, and the Bears are still looking for their first December win since 2010.  Is it time for the Lovie era to come to an end?

Smith has been coach of the Bears since 2004 and is the fourth-longest tenured coach in the NFL.  His early success, including a Super Bowl trip following the 2006 season, has given way to more recent mediocrity, as they have made the playoffs only once since losing that Super Bowl.

There are plenty of excuses as to why the Bears have lost (or about to have lost) 4 out of their last 5 games.  The offensive line, a patchwork of bad retreads on its best day, has been decimated by injuries.  The defense, which was outscoring many offenses in the early part of the season, has started to show its age and is now without Brian Urlacher for perhaps the remainder of the season.  Other teams, however, lose key personnel and are able to recover.  For the Bears, the trend has been to fall apart at the first sign of adversity.

If the Bears fail to win a playoff game for the 5th time in the last 6 seasons, I don’t see how you don’t make a change.  Smith already has more coaching wins with the Bears than anybody not named Halas or Ditka, so it will not be an easy call to make.  Smith is also beloved by the McCaskey family, which will make it even harder.  But the window to win with the aging defense is closing fast and it may take some new blood on the sidelines to make it happen.