What the Experts Are Saying About the Chicago Bears Hiring John Fox

When the Bears fired head coach Marc Trestman in late December, almost no one would have believed John Fox was to be the next coach in Chicago.

The Fox hiring is a home run for new general manager Ryan Pace. The first-time GM needed to bring in some veteran sensibilities to correct the mishaps that sunk the Bears in 2014, and that’s exactly what he found in Fox.

In the coach’s first public comments after signing in Chicago, he noted similarities between his past and his present, via Mike Klis of the Denver Post.

"

I can tell you I'm really excited about the new opportunity. And yet it was a real enjoyable four years in Denver. I'm not comparing, but one of the most appealing things about this job is I've been in places like this before, Pittsburgh and New York. Old guard teams, old guard ownership. Family owned, like the Denver Broncos. Great tradition, like the Broncos. Sports towns. Great fan bases.

"

The soon-to-be 60-year-old joins the Bears with 13 years of head coaching experience, nine with the Carolina Panthers (2002-2010) and four with the Denver Broncos (2011-14). He carries a regular-season record of 119-89, finishing above .500 six times and at .500 three times. The 119 wins Fox accrued led to six division titles and seven total playoff berths. He’s 8-7 in the playoffs with three trips to championship games and two Super Bowl appearances.

Fox is coming off a very successful four-year run in Denver, one that includes a 46-18 record and four AFC West division titles and four playoff appearances.

This tweet from ESPNChicago’s Jeff Dickerson couldn't explain the Fox hiring any better:  

During that same stretch, the Bears went 31-33 with zero division titles, zero playoff appearances and myriad dysfunctional moments.

The dysfunctional moments of 2014 led to a fractured locker room. Once that happens, wins tend to go by the wayside. Two-time Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long deemed it important to point out “a strong locker room” in his initial comments about the hiring, via ChicagoBears.com:

Despite the apparent culture change that’s about to take place within the walls of Halas Hall, there are a few in the media who feel the Fox hiring is somewhat dull. Count Arthur Arkush of ChicagoFootball.com as one of them:

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Pretty tough deal if you ask me (not that anyone did). I like Elway the exec a lot, but isn't jury out after he pushed Fox out? #Broncos

— Arthur Arkush (@ArthurArkush) January 15, 2015"

While he’s right that Fox might not be the sexiest of hires, he’s definitely the safest choice for a first-time general manager. Phil Emery, who also was a first-time general manager, elected to hire someone who was relatively unknown: someone from the Canadian Football League. Emery wanted to be the smartest guy in the room by thinking he found the diamond in the rough. After two seasons, we learned Trestman was no diamond; he was just rough.

Pace actually learned from his predecessor. He deserves some applause.

Vinnie Iyer of the Sporting News didn’t seem to love the hiring, either, as he wrote:

"

Fox was let go by the Broncos because he couldn't meet high expectations when given a major quarterback upgrade. The Bears moved on from Smith because of, well, the exact same thing...Beyond all numerical and philosophical comparisons, Fox comes with the same feel of Smith. It sounds good, but it has the backdrop of inconsistency and big-picture disappointment—that they still won't get to the point to be quite good enough to trump Mike McCarthy and the Packers.

"

Unless Iyer was watching a different game than everyone else, his take on Fox’s failures in Denver seem quite a bit off base. Yes, Peyton Manning is a huge quarterback upgrade over Tim Tebow, the man who was under center when Fox first arrived in Denver. Just as much as Manning deserves credit for Denver’s success, he deserves just as much of the blame for the team’s failures. The Broncos lost that game 24-13 and, if you saw Manning throw the ball, you’d know Denver stood zero chance of winning that game, no matter how sound Fox’s defense performed.

What happened in Denver shouldn’t fall squarely on the shoulders of Fox. And you know what, even if it all was Fox’s fault, the Bears are still in a better position than they were pre-Fox.

Lovie Smith was fired because he couldn’t pick the right coach to coordinate the offense, not because he failed to fix quarterback Jay Cutler. Had Smith been able to find an offensive coordinator who knew how to call offensive plays that actually work in the NFL, he’d more than likely still be the head coach in Chicago.

Smith’s coordinators include the likes of Terry Shea, Ron Turner, Mike Martz and Mike Tice. Aside from Tice, who, according to NFL Media Columnist Mike Silver, has agreed to become the new offensive line coach in Oakland, when’s the last time you’ve heard any of those names?

Fox’s last two offensive coordinators include Mike McCoy, the current head coach of the San Diego Chargers and Adam Gase, who is interviewing for head coaching gigs as well as offensive coordinator jobs. Fox’s offensive coordinators actually move up in the world after leaving his staff.

For another difference between Smith and Fox, here's this from Brad Biggs of the ChicagoTribune: 

So, while Fox might not be the most adept offensive mind in the league, he seems to know how to surround himself with those who know what they’re doing. That should count for something.

Despite the level to which Chicago struggled along the way to a 5-11 record in 2014, there’s reason to believe the Bears can turn things around quickly. Ex-Panthers safety Mike Minter, who played under Fox for five seasons, has a nickname for the Bears’ new coach, via Adam Hoge, Chicago Bears insider for WGN Radio:

The Panthers were 1-15 in 2001, the season before Fox took over. In 2002, the Panthers went 7-9 and then won the NFC title in 2003. Minter witnessed it all firsthand.

It can be done, folks. But there's work to be done first.

What the Bears need to fix most, setting defense aside for now, is the offense, specifically the lack of a run game and Cutler’s current mood toward the franchise that benched him late in the 2014 season. For reasons to think both of those issues can be corrected, look no further than these next two tweets, one via Kevin Fishbain of ChicagoFootball.com and the other from ESPNChicago:

It hasn't been determined whether Cutler will be with the team next season. Pace and Fox could decide it's already time to move on from the guy who Emery saw as the franchise quarterback. The Cutler decision, due to its impact on the salary cap, likely will shape the team's plan for the offseason. Cutler is due to earn $16 million guaranteed in 2015, and when the calendar strikes March 13, 2015, $10 million of the $16 million he’s due in 2016 becomes guaranteed. No rest for the weary, as this decision will have to be made soon.

What happens in free agency and the 2015 NFL draft will go a long way in determining just how quick these Bears can turn it around. While those kinds of decisions aren't 100 percent made by the head coach, his input usually is heavily considered by the general manager.

Fox’s history in the draft likely was a motivating factor in Pace’s decision to bring aboard the veteran coach. The Bears currently sit with the No. 7 overall selection can cannot afford a miss. This list of Fox draft picks, provided by ChicagoFootball.com, should put smiles on the faces of Bears fans:

Of the 10 first-round picks selected while Fox was the head coach, seven defensive players and three offensive players were selected. No surprise there with a defensive-minded coach favoring defense in the draft.

Only six players will be off the board by the time the Bears must decide what to do with the No. 7 pick in the first round. The player he and Pace decide on likely will play a large factor in the success or failure of the Bears next season. The draft can be a crapshoot at times, so who really knows how it will turn out. Talk is talk, though. Fox’s history is just that, history. Until he does something beyond what Lovie or Trestman did, the jury will be out.

But, for now,  it’s hard to not get caught up in the hype surrounding the new Bears coach. Free-agent linebacker D.J. Williams, who spent two seasons under Fox in Denver, said all the right things about his former coach, things those at Halas Hall are hoping will be said of Fox’s time in Chicago, via ESPNChicago.com:

"

Fox makes coming to work fun. I would say he's an easy-going guy, but he's still old-school football. It's very hard to find a blend of that, somebody who's like real hard-nosed, but laid-back at the same time. I find you don't demand respect, you earn it. Being around John Fox for two years, how he approaches guys in the locker room, he'll chat you up and talk to you ... when you do that you get respect from the guys.

"

The only certainty when it comes to Fox is that he’ll have more head-coaching experience on Day 1 than any other coach in team history, aside from George Halas, obviously.

All stats via NFL.com.