Lovie Smith enters his sixth season as the head coach of the Chicago Bears with a regular season coaching record of 45-35 (.563). Smith’s 45 wins are third most in franchise history, trailing only Hall of Famers George Halas and Mike Ditka. Forty of those 45 regular season wins have come over the previous four seasons, tied for second most in the NFC and sixth most in the NFL during that span. Smith also has a 2-2 postseason record, including an NFC Championship and the Bears first Super Bowl appearance in 21 years (2006), to give him the third-most playoff victories in team history behind the six of Halas and Ditka.

Smith set forth with three stated goals when he was hired as the 13th head coach in Chicago Bears history on January 15, 2004: end the decade of dominance by the Green Bay Packers over the Bears, capture the NFC North Division for Chicago and win the Super Bowl. The Bears have won seven of 10 contests against Green Bay during Smith’s tenure, contributing to Chicago winning the division in 2005 and 2006. Accomplishing his first two directives prior to leading the Bears to within one win of their second Super Bowl title and tenth overall league championship in just his third season at the helm, Smith agreed to a contract extension on February 28, 2007 that maintains his position with the team through 2011.

Leading Chicago to division titles in 2005 and 2006, Smith joined Ditka as the only coaches in team history to lead the team to consecutive division titles. He is the first coach in team history to lead the Bears to the playoffs in two of his first three seasons.

Smith, the 2005 NFL Coach of the Year, has successfully laid Chicago's foundation for success in just five seasons on the job by establishing his cornerstone of aggressive defensive play. After the Bears defense finished eighth on defense in the Aikman ratings during the 2008 season, Chicago has now ranked in the top-15 in the rankings in each of Smith’s five years with the club, including first in 2005 and second in 2006. The Bears defense also finished 11th in the Aikman ratings in Smith’s first season with the club in 2004 and 14th in 2007.

Finishing second in the NFL in takeaways in 2008 with 32, the Bears now lead the league with 172 during Smith’s tenure as head coach. The Bears are the only team in the NFL to record at least 30 takeaways in each of the last four regular seasons. Over the last five seasons, the Bears have scored 29.3 percent of their points off opponent turnovers, third-highest in the NFL. Chicago is also tied for second in the NFL with 23 red-zone takeaways during Smith’s tenure.

During Smith's first five seasons at the helm, Chicago ranks fourth in the NFL having allowed 18.6 points per game and third with 163 total touchdowns allowed. Chicago gave up the fewest points in the NFC during the 2005 and 2006 seasons, pacing the entire NFL in Smith’s second year with the organization. Under Smith’s tutelage the Bears lead the league by allowing the lowest opponent third-down conversion percentage (32.2%), the lowest opponent red zone scoring efficiency (77.6%) and forcing the most opponent three-and-out drives (283).

Chicago has found consistency under the even-keeled hand of Smith’s direction, fashioning a regular season home record of 25-15 (.625) from 2004-08 while going 20-20 (.500) on the road during that time. The Bears went 6-2 at Soldier Field in 2008 and 3-5 on the road. It was the third time in Smith’s five seasons with the club that the Bears won six or more games at home in a single year. Chicago was 6-2 at home in 2006 after going 7-1 in the Windy City during 2005. Chicago was 7-1 on the road in 2006, tied with 1985 and 1986 for the team’s best single-season road record since the inception of the 16-game schedule. The Bears were 8-16 (.333) on the road in the three years prior to Smith’s arrival. By leading Chicago to records of 11-5 in 2005 and 13-3 in 2006, Smith has guided the Bears to two of their top seven seasons in terms of regular season victories during the era of the 16-game schedule.

Resiliency has also been a hallmark of the Bears throughout Smith’s tenure as the team has rallied from a deficit in 26 of their 47 total victories (including playoffs) under his direction. In 2008, the Bears won back-to-back games in overtime after trailing in the fourth quarter for just the second time in team history. During 2007, Chicago won three consecutive road games in which they trailed in the fourth quarter for the first time in team history.

Smith has returned Chicago to its preferred place as a power in the NFC North, fashioning a divisional record of 18-12 (.600) during his time with the Bears. Smith led Chicago to 5-1 intra-divisional records in each of the 2005 and 2006 campaigns, defeating all three opponents at least once in both seasons, a feat last accomplished by the Bears in 1991. Chicago began the 2006 season with three consecutive wins over divisional opponents for the first time in team history. The Bears also won its first 11 games against NFC opponents in 2006 en route to the second-best intra-conference mark in franchise history.

Registering a career-high 13 wins in 2006 to tie predecessor Dick Jauron for the most victories by a Bears head coach in his third season, Smith led Chicago to home-field advantage in the NFC Playoffs and the team’s first NFC Championship since its Super Bowl season of 1985. That gave Chicago 24 regular season wins since 2005, the fourth-highest two-season win total in the 87-season history of the franchise. Smith guided the team to wins in its first seven contests in 2006 to register the fourth-best start to a season in team history while allowing the Bears to join Green Bay and Minnesota as the only teams in NFL history to begin four different seasons with 7-0 records. Chicago’s seven consecutive wins to start the season allowed Smith to record the League’s third-longest win streak for the second consecutive season.

Smith was named the Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year for 2005 after becoming the fastest head coach in Bears history to lead the team to a division title, doing so in his second campaign while setting a franchise record for victories by a sophomore head coach with an 11-5 record. The Coach of the Year Award was the sixth all-time for a Bears head coach, more than any other team in the NFL. Smith - who won with 24.5 of 50 possible votes - was the fourth head coach in team history to win the award after team founder George S. Halas in 1963 and 1965, Mike Ditka in 1985 and 1988 and Dick Jauron in 2001. Just the third coach in team history to lead the organization to the playoffs in his second season, Smith guided the Bears to their first-ever NFC North Division title in 2005. En route to the team's second division championship in five seasons, the Bears completed their first season sweep of Green Bay since 1991, a feat they repeated in 2007.

Winning just one of their first four games to start the 2005 campaign, Smith rallied the Bears to become just the 20th NFL team to qualify for the postseason after beginning the season 1-3 since the current 12-team playoff system was instituted in 1990. The Bears turned their season around as Smith guided the team to eight consecutive mid-season wins, the third-longest win streak in the NFL in 2005 and the longest by Chicago since the 1985 Super Bowl team won 12 straight to begin the season. In guiding the team to the No. 2 seed in the NFC Playoffs, Smith led a worst-to-first revival in the NFC North division as the Bears six-win improvement from the previous season was tied for the biggest in the NFL in 2005. The dramatic turnaround made Smith one of just three active NFL coaches to have produced a six-game improvement in the second season of his initial stint as a head coach after Jeff Fisher with the Houston Oilers in 1995 and Andy Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2000.

The Bears posted a 5-11 record in 2004 in Smith's first season as head coach as he presided over the youngest team in the NFL while battling through a spate of injuries that robbed the team of the services of several of its most productive players.

Smith came to Chicago with the reputation for being proficient at instituting positive change after he engineered a dramatic turnaround as the defensive coordinator of the Rams from 2001 through 2003. Known for his acumen in teaching and motivating young talent, Smith took on the added responsibility of assistant head coach with the Rams prior to the 2003 season. In Smith's first season as an NFL defensive coordinator with St. Louis in 2001, Smith helped the Rams return to the Super Bowl after missing the playoffs the previous season as his defense allowed fewer points and total yards per game than the previous year. Smith coached on playoff teams in four of his last five campaigns as an assistant and has done so in seven of his 13 NFL seasons overall.

From 2001-03, the Rams ranked third in the NFL in takeaways and fumble recoveries, tied for sixth in sacks, and tied for eighth in interceptions. Smith helped steward St. Louis to shutouts in both 2001 and 2003, the first white-washings by the Rams organization since 1994. St. Louis won 33 games during Smith’s tenure with the team, the third-most behind Green Bay and Philadelphia in the NFL during that time. He capped his stint in St. Louis by orchestrating a unit that ranked among the League leaders in takeaways, defensive touchdowns, and sacks in 2003. In that year, St. Louis led the NFL with 46 takeaways while tying for fourth with 24 interceptions and leading the NFL with 22 fumble recoveries. That season's takeaway total is tied with the 1999 Eagles for the third-highest single-season total in the NFL since 1993. St. Louis ranked fourth in the NFL by scoring five defensive touchdowns in 2003 and also posted the fourth-most sacks in the NFL. In 2002, the Rams defense finished tied for fourth in the NFC and tied for fifth in the NFL in fewest touchdowns allowed while ranking sixth in the NFC and eighth in the NFL in third-down efficiency.

Smith guided St. Louis to a defensive resurgence upon taking over in 2001. Inheriting a defense coming off a season in which it ranked 23rd in the NFL in total defense while allowing over 29 points per game, Smith improved the unit to third in the NFL in total defense while permitting only 17.0 points per game. The St. Louis defense made one-year leaps to third from 13th in the NFL in run defense and 10th from 27th in pass defense while improving to a conference-high 14 wins from 10 in 2000. The Rams did that all scored five defensive touchdowns in 2001 while starting seven new players on defense, including two rookies.

Preceding his success in St. Louis, Smith contributed to the revival of Tampa Bay's defense as the Buccaneers linebacker coach from 1996-2000. Tampa's defense hadn't ranked above 20th in the NFL in the four seasons prior to Smith's arrival under head coach Tony Dungy and defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, but had ranks of 11th in 1996, third in 1997, second in 1998, third in 1999, and ninth in 2000. During the five seasons with Smith on the Bucs staff, the team allowed less than 300 points each year while permitting an average of 16.9 points and 258.8 yards per game. Tampa Bay posted only two defensive touchdowns in Smith's first three years, but improved with two in '99 and a franchise-record six in 2000.

Smith's tutelage has brought out the best in his players throughout his career. As linebackers coach at Tampa Bay, Smith helped Derrick Brooks develop into a perennial Pro Bowl selection and one of the NFL's best linebackers. Brooks made the first career Pro Bowl of his team-record 11 career Pro Bowl appearances in his second season – Smith’s first season as his position coach. Also in 1996, Smith helped Hardy Nickerson earn his second career Pro Bowl nod. Brooks and Nickerson made a combined eight all-star appearances under Smith.

Overall, Smith has spent 27 years in coaching at the collegiate and professional levels. He began his coaching career at his hometown high school, Big Sandy High School, in 1980 before moving to Cascia Hall Prep in Tulsa the following year. Two years later, Smith made the jump to the college ranks at his alma mater of Tulsa as linebackers coach, where he stayed through 1986. Smith moved on to coach linebackers at Wisconsin (1987), Arizona State (1988-91), and Kentucky (1992). Smith was the defensive backs coach at Tennessee (1993-94) and Ohio State (1995).

A native of Big Sandy, Texas, Smith led the Big Sandy Wildcats to three consecutive state championships in high school and was all-state three years as an end and linebacker. Smith was a two-time all-America and three-time all-Missouri Conference defensive back at Tulsa.

Lovie and his wife, MaryAnne, have three sons, Mikal, Matthew, and Miles. Lovie is very active in the community and he and his wife have started the Lovie Smith and MaryAnne Smith Foundation which is a scholarship program designed to aid qualified high school students who hale from low socio-economic backgrounds and give them the ability to afford and attend college. In addition, Smith gives much of his time to helping the American Diabetes Association - a foundation near to his heart since his mother suffers from Type-2 diabetes. He participates in ADA sponsored events such as the Tour de Cure Bike Ride, the ADA Care to Cure Gala and their Father's Day Dinner. Smith also purchases 10 tickets for every home game as part of the Bears ticket exchange program and donates them to local charities.