This Bears repeating: Don't blame Lovie The onus isn't on Smith -- not yet, anyway. Angelo is the 24/7 lightning rod of criticism based on his mistakes

You only hope Cedric The Entertainer runs the football the way henegotiates. There he was Thursday, slipping into town, scoping histurf, weaving up Interstate 94 toward Halas Hall, then poundingbehind the interference of a surprise blocker -- his baseball agentfrom his minor-league days -- to deke and slash and ultimately teasehis way through an inconclusive chat with a lunging, exasperatedJerry Angelo.

In the end, Day 32 was like all the others for the Bears andCedric Benson, making us wonder if their elusive top draft pick mightdangle the baseball card as other football players have -- KirkGibson, Bo Jackson, Jim Thorpe -- while also noticing the FOR SALEsign outside the holdout's large, white, unoccupied, $1 million housein Lake County. That can be removed as quickly as it went up, butfor now, with the Bears returning to Soldier Field tonight for theirhome preseason opener, Benson represents a brave, stubborn ghosthovering in the same lakefront sky as Curtis Enis and Rashaan Salaam.

Which leaves Lovie Smith behind yet another 8-ball, if anyone hasnoticed.

Some things not Smith's fault

Normally by now in our clinically depressed football town, peoplehave formed an opinion about a head coach entering his second season.But Lovie debates are non-existent, probably because even the coach-killers realize Smith's grade only can be "incomplete" so far. Whenhe largely has been a victim of the very front office that hired him,how can anyone rightfully slam Smith with the fury of those whoslammed Dave Wannstedt and Dick Jauron? Certainly, he hasn't beenwithout blame, recalling how he pushed for the hiring of Terry Sheaas offensive coordinator last year, how he agreed with Angelo'sabysmal decision to back up Rex Grossman with Jonathan Quinn and howhe ran a demanding 2004 camp struck by an unusual rash of hamstringand groin injuries that sabotaged the season before it started.

But it's not Smith's fault that Grossman suffered yet anotherseason-ending injury. And this time, it's not Smith's fault thatAngelo wasn't aggressive in signing any of the available free-agentquarterbacks -- Jeff Garcia, Brad Johnson, Jay Fiedler -- who wouldlook a hell of a lot better than Chad Hutchinson right now. Nor is itSmith's fault that Benson is the NFL's last remaining contractholdout with the season starting two weeks from Sunday. Remember,Smith wanted the running back badly on draft day. They're both fromTexas, right down to the drawl, and Lovie took a special interest instriking a bond with Benson during minicamps. "I think I'm a littlebit more to Cedric than a guy who works for the Bears," he said. "Wehave a relationship going." Alas, that relationship has played nohelpful role in creating a peace treaty.

So, entering a second season that usually provides significanthints about a coach's worth, Smith doesn't have the services of alegitimate professional quarterback and a ball carrier deemedvaluable enough to take No. 4 in the draft. Sorry, that isn't fair. Irealize injuries and misfortune are obstacles in every team's seasonand that the best franchises -- the New England Patriots, for one --manage to navigate the jungle and remain on a championship level. Butnot even Bill Belichick could survive without a quality QB and aworkhorse back.

Defense does look good

The question is whether Smith can do what the good NFL coaches do:minimize the damage by making the right decisions. Specifically, howwe he handle the mess at quarterback if Hutchinson's play continuesto reek at last week's stench level? The boobirds already are warmingup in expectation of a series of ugly incompletions tonight, and aswe've seen with Quinn and Cade McNown and other chumps around here,confidence could become a major issue for a project who neverimpressed Bill Parcells in Dallas with his mental toughness. WillLovie have the testosterone to pull an immediate plug on Hutch ifit's obvious he can't play? Will Smith and Ron Turner, the offensivecoordinator, dare to prepare rookie Kyle Orton for September duty? Ifthe Bears start the season 1-2 before their bye week and Smithdoesn't think Orton is ready, will he shift to veteran Jeff Blake?That's one way we'll judge him.

"I just think you play the best guys, period," Smith toldreporters this week. "It's no more than that. Yes, young guys willmake a few more mistakes than veterans, but if you're playing thebest guys, it works out. I like veterans. If there's two goodplayers, I'd rather one be a veteran. But if the younger player isthat better guy, I'm from that school and playing the best guy."

Otherwise, it seems Lovie has done everything in his power to makethe Bears better after a 5-11 stinker. His defensive expertisepermeates a mean, lean, aggressive unit that might be one of theleague's best. A monster front includes potential Pro Bowlers inAdewale Ogunleye, Tommie Harris and Alex Brown. Brian Urlacher lookspossessed and ready to have a dominant season, assuming he can settledown his private life. Charles Tillman will only get better as apremier cover corner if he keeps dueling Muhsin Muhammad in practice.Mike Brown is healthy and hungry, Lance Briggs is a tackling machine.

As for those hamstring pulls, where are they? Acknowledging hismistake, Smith was all for the hiring of strength and conditioningcoach Rusty Jones, who cut back the number of two-a-day practices andemphasized better nutrition and hydration. He also surveyed hisroster and weeded out the riff-raff, including kicker Paul Edinger,who corkscrew approach cost the Bears too many games.

Jury still out on the coach

No, the onus isn't on Smith -- not yet, anyway. Angelo is the 24/7 lightning rod of criticism based on his unforgivable mistakesregarding backup quarterbacks and his uneven draft-day performances,an inconsistency now plagued by the Benson saga. Since the magical2001 season, in which he was a merry bystander after being hired amonth before training camp, the Bears are 16-32 in Angelo's threeyears in charge. While his contract runs through 2008, the calls tounload him will be loud if the Bears suffer another losing seasonwith another series of brutal quarterbacks. Smith, by comparison, issecure. Not that he's comfortable with the h-word when mentioned tohim in the preseason.

"Honeymoon? I don't feel like I've had a honeymoon at all," hesaid. "We tried to win last year and didn't. When we've played bad,people let us know it. When we played well, they let us know, too. Ithink they'll do the same thing this year. Hopefully, we'll have morewins and we can talk more on [postseason] terms.

"We were 5-11 last year. That's not good enough. Just like therest of the team, I have to improve. We have to improve."

But when seeds for improvement haven't been planted entirely, it'snot right to bury the coach simply because he's the coach.FireLovieSmith.com? For all the losers who live on the Internet, Iwouldn't expect to see that Web site this year.

Vent elsewhere.

Jay Mariotti is a regular on "Around the Horn" at 4 p.m. on ESPN.Send e-mail to inbox@ suntimes.com with name, hometown and daytimephone number (letters run Sunday).