John Fox Offers Hope for Chicago Bears Without Offering Up Much at All

John Fox spoke with confidence when he met the Chicago media Monday for the first time since being named head coach of the Bears. He spoke with a sense of clarity and poise, like he’d been in this position before. And he has, twice, actually.

Fox made no promises Monday when asked for his thoughts on how far this Bears team can go in 2015, saying, "I've always been of the thought of 'understate, overproduce.' I've never predicted records. If I could do that, I'd be at a racetrack somewhere. 

When Trestman first met the Chicago media, he said, “We're going to be a team that is selfish and undisciplined.” While he clearly misspoke, he was right on with that prediction. He should have gone to the racetrack.

Fox did the right thing by not setting high expectations and allowing time to be the judge of how far this team can go, because we don’t yet know what the team will look like next season.

Will Jay Cutler be under center? That, right now, is the biggest question surrounding this football team.

"I'm looking forward to getting to know Jay," Fox said. "He did text me, welcomed me to Chicago. Was very excited that I was coming here which I thought was a nice move. I just reminded him that this game is only fun when we win, and we will. ... I'm looking forward to seeing Jay face-to-face. We're going to start that relationship and that process. Doesn't matter what player here. We're going to start that process, and I'm not there yet."

That’s as far as Fox would go when it came to Cutler. When asked what he looks for in a quarterback, Fox quickly replied, “One that wins.”

"People talk about 'Well, coach, you're a defensive coach,'" he went on to say. "Well, I can promise you that I've seen more offense than any offensive coach known to man in 25 years. I know football. That's my job."

Fox has until March 12, 2015 to make a decision on Cutler’s immediate future. That’s when Cutler’s 2016 salary becomes partially guaranteed, $10 million of the $16 million he’s due. The Cutler decision cannot wait long, as the decision will play a large role in evaluating the team’s current and future salary cap.

My energy right now has been on hiring staff,” he said when asked about the construction of the team. “Personally, I have not dug into (the roster)."

Hiring the coaching staff, offensive and defensive coordinators along with a handful of assistant opportunities, is the next pressing issue. With no contracts yet signed, Fox wouldn’t go as far as to mention any names or even coaching styles of what he’s looking for.

"We’re going to put our players in the best position for them to have success,’’ he said. ‘‘Whether that’s a 3-4 or 4-3 has not been determined yet.”

Before decisions on defensive schemes can be made, Fox must first hire his coordinators. Judging by Fox’s recent history, don’t necessarily focus on the big names out there right now. Remember that he replaced Mike McCoy, a former Broncos offensive coordinator who left to become the head coach of the San Diego Chargers, with a relative no-name coach in Adam Gase, who now is one of the hottest names on the market. Fox doesn’t come off as a coach who’s afraid to play around outside the box.

“As a head coach, my job is to motivate and manage the football team,” he said. “Not one team is bigger and better than the other one.”

Fox’s mindset as a head coach is the total opposite of the two coaches who came before him, Lovie Smith and Trestman, who both took on one side of the ball while neglecting the other. Lovie failed the offense, and Trestman failed the defense (and the offense, if you really want to pile on).

While winning a press conference doesn’t win you games, Fox seems like the right guy for this job at this time. Accountability is back. No longer will we have to hear about how well the Bears practiced leading up to a 50-plus-point loss. Those days are gone. If the Bears are playing bad football, expect Fox to tell you just what he’s thinking.

“I’m brutally honest,” he said. “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I’m not afraid or intimidated about telling people the truth.”

After a 5-11 season that was chock full of dysfunction, bringing in a head coach who speaks his mind without fear was a good play by first-time general manager Ryan Pace.

Pace deserves a gold star for pairing up with a head coach who can lend expertise in the areas he lacks experience. He brought in a coach who is coming off a four-year stretch that consisted of 46 wins, four division titles, four trips to the playoffs and one trip to the Super Bowl. That’s not a bad move by a team that has been to the playoffs just once in the past eight years.

“It starts with being successful in your division, because the one thing I know is if you win your division, you go to the playoffs,” he wisely stated without mentioning the Packers by name.

If 2015 ends as well as it began, big things lie ahead for this franchise.

Quotes from Fox's introductory press conference obtained firsthand. Salary information courtesy of OvertheCap.com.