Who Is Most to Blame for Chicago Bears' Biggest Failures in 2017?
For now, the rebuilding plan surrounding the Chicago Bears seems like it has fallen off the path.
The Bears are 3-9, most recently taking a 15-14 loss against a two-win San Francisco 49ers team while watching that particular rebuild successfully trot out a potential franchise quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo.
Granted, most entered this season thinking it was a transitional year for the Bears at best. Most of the free-agent signings arrived with little in the way of guaranteed money after this year, a strong hint the front office will again heavily reload key positions through free agency and the draft around a young core.
In the interim, though, it doesn't make the losses any easier to digest. The Bears have gone off the rails in a few disheartening, albeit interesting ways.
Let's look at who deserves the most blame for the struggle-riddled season.
Kickers
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A season imploding like this takes every layer of the team falling apart in some fashion or another.
This certainly applies to special teams this year for the Bears, where Connor Barth converted only 11 of his 16 attempts. Each of his misses came from 40 or more yards away, a consistency issue the Bears can't afford to have over the course of a season featuring a handful of close losses.
The Bears then took a chance on former second-round pick Roberto Aguayo, saw him miss one in-game kick and cut him. Now the job falls to Cairo Santos, who has missed one of his two attempts already, though the miss did come from more than 50 yards away.
In a development the Bears didn't want to have to deal with, the front office will need to address the position this offseason.
Medical Staff
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At some point, a finger has to at least hypothetically get pointed at a team's staff.
A year ago, the injury bug hit the Bears in the worst way, helping them land among the teams with the most salary cap on injured reserve.
Fast forward to this year, and these are some of the notables on injured reserve:
- Leonard Floyd
- Willie Young
- Jerrell Freeman
- Eric Kush
- Kevin White
- Cameron Meredith
- Zach Miller
Obviously, some of these can't be helped. Injuries are going to happen of differing severity. But this is the second year in a row the Bears have had a laundry list of names on the shelf, and it gets even worse when thinking about the nagging issues plaguing the interior of the offensive line, Eddie Goldman and others.
Based on the way this season continues to trend, this area will only continue to become an even bigger problem, which hinders a rebuild because the core foundation can't stay on the field and develop.
Mike Glennon
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Bears fans knew this was coming.
Mike Glennon did all the right things leading up to the season. He ignored criticism of his big-money contract and was professional despite the understanding he was a stop-gap solution while the Bears prepped rookie Mitchell Trubisky.
Then he stepped on the field.
Glennon imploded, to say the least. He completed 66.4 percent of his passes yet threw for all of 833 yards with four touchdowns against five interceptions. This includes a game where the offense didn't complete a pass to a wide receiver.
To be fair, the quarterback had to deal with injuries up front and to some of his top receivers. His weapons weren't creating separation, but his inability to push the ball down the field had opponents keying and mostly stopping the run.
Glennon threw for more than 218 yards in a game once over four tries and didn't throw multiple touchdowns in a contest before the Bears pulled the plug.
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Vic Fangio
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Nobody on the Chicago coaching staff is immune from criticism right now, including defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
While he's excelled in other locales and generally done a solid job in Chicago, Fangio's unit simply hasn't lived up to expectations over the second half of this season. Injuries obviously haven't helped, and he is working with iffy safety play and a lack of pass-rushers.
That aside, there's little reason the 49ers should be drumming up 388 total yards on a 10-of-18 mark on third down. Or letting Carson Wentz throw three scores on the way to 31 points. Or allowing Matthew Stafford two en route to 27.
Fangio's unit hasn't always been in the best position thanks to a struggling offense. But there has been a noticeable struggle with halftime adjustments and other than the two-touchdown performance from Eddie Jackson, the unit hasn't had an overly impressive performance.
Ryan Pace
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Bears general manager Ryan Pace isn't doing a bad job while stuck in one of the league's most significant rebuilds.
But the holes are still there—and blatant.
For instance, Pernell McPhee is the last man standing out of his first free-agent class and has been an overall disappointment. A handful of his notable draft picks such as Kevin White, Hroniss Grasu, Deon Bush and Adrian Amos have been major letdowns, too.
Pace has hit more than he's missed, but the miscues are easy to find. And while he's gone after big names such as Stephon Gilmore and been willing to spend top dollar, he's resorted to signing guys like Glennon, Quintin Demps, Markus Wheaton, Dion Sims and Marcus Cooper, all guys who have been massive disappointments at one juncture or another.
It's hard to judge Pace through a long-term lens right now because he's still molding the roster, but some of his more notable misses are the things holding the Bears back the most this season.
John Fox
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Cliche as it is, the writing is on the wall for John Fox.
Fox has the worst record as head coach in Bears history at 12-32. His offense hasn't performed and the defense has underwhelmed when compared to last year despite upgrades at cornerback and being slightly healthier.
The blame always goes to the head coach and it should do here.
Mistakes, insistence on sticking with certain players and losing at home to terrible teams would have a coach shown the door in most places. Fox has yet to win an NFC North game this year and lost to Green Bay with and without Aaron Rodgers.
In fact, teams such as the New York Giants are already firing head coaches for comparable offenses. And we've known from the start it's Pace tied to the future success or failure of Trubisky, not Fox.
That is a problem in itself—if the fans know, so do the players. In a lost season, the largest chunk of the blame falls on Fox, who has one of the hottest seats in the NFL with four games left.
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