Was Bears’ Lovie Smith firing in 2012 a mistake?

Lovie Smith didn’t get it done in two rough seasons as coach of the Buccaneers. Having moved on from Tampa to the University of Illinois, he failed — over five really long years — to lift the Illini to significantly higher ground.

Now, Smith — 64, and a decade removed from the end of his highly respectable nine-season run with the Bears — is back in town with his latest team, the Texans. Did the Bears make a mistake by firing him after the 2012 campaign? That was question No. 1 in this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter.

“At the time, no,” @TweetlessCarson commented, “but in hindsight, yes.”

Marc Trestman, John Fox and Matt Nagy didn’t exactly come along and make Smith look bad. We’ll see about Matt Eberflus.

“It set the franchise back years when they fired him,” @dan_starzec wrote.

We also pitted Smith against Eberflus — they’re battling on Sunday, after all — and forced respondents to choose between the three Bears coaches who came in between that pair. Oof. And on to the polls:

Poll No. 1: Did the Bears make a mistake by firing Lovie Smith after the 2012 season?

Upshot: @GridAssassin correctly points out that Smith’s post-Bears career has been a string of disappointments. On the other hand, @Grizzly990 had a more common take: “A mistake firing Smith? No. The clown-college parade they hired to replace him was the mistake.” It’s certainly true the Bears became sort of stagnant in the post-Super Bowl years under Smith, who never was accused of paying much attention to an oft-struggling offense.

Poll No. 2: Would you rather have Matt Eberflus or Lovie Smith as coach of the Bears?

Upshot: Eberflus is our shiny new toy, right? He was bound to get the lion’s share of this vote. Then again, Trestman — an offensive genius! — would have gotten a majority of the vote after his first two games. Same, for sure, with Fox, who came to town with Super Bowl pedigree. Nagy, too, was a guy Bears fans were awfully eager to like. That’s just how it works.

Poll No. 3: You’re running an NFL team and have to hire one of these men as your coach:

Upshot: Could we have teed this one up any better for all the yuksters out there? “Trestman for the comedic value,” @youarethemrd commented. “Chicago sports radio was absolute gold when he was coach. Never laughed so hard in my life.” Seriously, though, do people not remember how awful the Bears were under Fox? @bsdtectr must, putting it this way: “You go without a head coach.”