"Phil Emery is a Lovie Smith guy.

He was Monday, at least. The Bears' new general manager not only accepted Smith as his head coach for the 2012 season — he had no choice — but he embraced him.

Emery sounded more like Smith's colleague than his boss at his introductory news conference at Halas Hall. There was no hint of a win-or-else standard for next season after the Bears failed to make the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons since playing in the Super Bowl.

''I don't look at it in terms of standards,'' Emery said when asked what the benchmark would be for Smith next season. ''We're all evaluated every day on how we interact with people, how we provide leadership, how we use our talent and resources."