What was the point of hiring John Fox going into rebuild mode?

[modo]

Fox was brought in to turn this ship around asap.....this isn't a Cubs tear down....

Fox is doing what he knows best and that is building a defense.....the Bears could have a fast attacking defense, but I think it will really start to shine next year.....

I think the offense is being led by Pace and Loggains with Fox inputting on who the type of players are...

 

[FirstTimer]

Fox was brought in to turn this ship around asap.....this isn't a Cubs tear down....

Depends what you mean by "turnaround". Playoffs? Nah.

IMO Fox was more of a stability hire. He's a professional football coach that pace could put in place and trust to steady the ship while Pace restocks the roster.

There are some similarities with the Cubs tear down though in regards to Pace getting rid of high price/aging guys, some of whom were pains in the asses. (Soriano, Aramis, Zambrano, Garza, etc etc etc) (Forte, Marshall, Bennett, Slauson, Briggs, Urlacher) Obviously these stretch across multiple GM's and really isn't the point of the discussion though.

Back to the main topic, Fox was the type of guy needed to come in and not screw things up. He's reliable, a known commodity, and can be trusted. How that plays into varying definitions of "turn around" is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[modo]

Depends what you mean by "turnaround". Playoffs? Nah.

IMO Fox was more of a stability hire. He's a professional football coach that pace could put in place and trust to steady the ship while Pace restocks the roster.

There are some similarities with the Cubs tear down though in regards to Pace getting rid of high price/aging guys, some of whom were pains in the asses. (Soriano, Aramis, Zambrano, Garza, etc etc etc) (Forte, Marshall, Bennett, Slauson, Briggs, Urlacher) Obviously these stretch across multiple GM's and really isn't the point of the discussion though.

Back to the main topic, Fox was the type of guy needed to come in and not screw things up. He's reliable, a known commodity, and can be trusted. How that plays into varying definitions of "turn around" is in the eye of the beholder.

The playoffs are precisely why Fox was brought in....they didn't bring in Fox to not try and get to the playoffs......

I believe Emery was more of that person to 'just add a few pieces' and not screw things up....

I guess you could somewhat correlate this to the Cubs but the timing is not meant to be 5 years and Fox has a track record of quick turnarounds primarily built on defense...that seems to be what he is trying to do again.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

Looking back on the hires from 2015, the Bears made a pretty good decision out of the options. Kubiak obviously had the most success, but he also had the easiest situation. Out of the hires, I also would have been fine with Bowles.

Mularkey, Del Rio, Quinn, Rex, Fox, Kubiak and Todd Bowles.

 

[FirstTimer]

The playoffs are precisely why Fox was brought in....

That's not the case.

If the Bears goal was the playoffs they wouldn't have jettisoned reliable veterans like Forte, Slauson, Bennett, etc.

Look at who the Bears have cut loose the last couple of seasons. If they were aiming for the playoffs they aren't letting these guys go.

If you keep guys like Marshall, Bennett, Forte, Slauson, etc around and factor in the improved front 7 this year I think you could make an argument the Bears might be sniffing around WC contention in Weeks 12-15 of the regular season.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

Do you guys want to have fun with threads like this or should I lock? My first full season as a mod. Leaning towards if in doubt lock it.

Doubt, about this thread ....wtf UrBro, no need to Urblock this thread, the talk is football. Despite the somewhat goofy nature of the title it's about footbaw.
I

 

[Midway Fields]

John fox is well into his 60's with heart problems and most likely will not be around when we have the talent to be serious contenders. We might as well have hired a young upstart coach and see what he had. We won't be contenders in 2017, 18 or 19, unless we somehow luck into a franchise qb.

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Jim Harbaugh will be ready to come back to the NFL in 2 years aka when Foxy is slated to be fired. He will be the next coach of the Bears. You heard it here first.

 

[iueyedoc]

John fox is well into his 60's with heart problems and most likely will not be around when we have the talent to be serious contenders. We might as well have hired a young upstart coach and see what he had. We won't be contenders in 2017, 18 or 19, unless we somehow luck into a franchise qb.

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WTF. He is 61. Hell, Arians, the guy everybody pines about missing out on, is 2 1/2 years older. Well into his 60's...Does anyone even check out simple facts before spewing bullshit.

 

[Midway Fields]

WTF. He is 61. Hell, Arians, the guy everybody pines about missing out on, is 2 1/2 years older. Well into his 60's...Does anyone even check out simple facts before spewing bullshit.

Hey age discrimination is real...just ask ommy.

 

[modo]

That's not the case.

If the Bears goal was the playoffs they wouldn't have jettisoned reliable veterans like Forte, Slauson, Bennett, etc.

Look at who the Bears have cut loose the last couple of seasons. If they were aiming for the playoffs they aren't letting these guys go.

If you keep guys like Marshall, Bennett, Forte, Slauson, etc around and factor in the improved front 7 this year I think you could make an argument the Bears might be sniffing around WC contention in Weeks 12-15 of the regular season.

I don't think he was told to win with the players they have and make the playoffs.....Pace still has to make a sustainable team...I believe they thought they could get younger on the offensive side of the ball and compete simply based on shedding the fucking horrible defense and turning it around quickly...

 

[iueyedoc]

Hey age discrimination is real...just ask ommy.

If he can still type at 117 why can't Fox coach at 61?

 

[FirstTimer]

I don't think he was told to win with the players they have and make the playoffs.....Pace still has to make a sustainable team...I believe they thought they could get younger on the offensive side of the ball and compete simply based on shedding the fucking horrible defense and turning it around quickly...

The problem is getting younger on offense meant get rid of every reliable/proven NFL level skill position talent with the exception of an unreliable Jeffery. I just don't think Fox was brought in to get this team to the playoffs in years 1 or 2. Pace's moves don't really align with that. You might say they are aiming for year three or so but I don't see this team really competing for the playoffs in a meaningful way until 2018.

 

[Burrberry]

I'll never be able to underestimate being able to do something that should be a given for a coach on this level like controlling a locker room after the Trestman debacle. Also he has connections around the league since he's been around for a while. Brings about a sense of job security I'm sure so more talented coordinators are willing to move their families around for a shot to work with him rather than the Trestman debacle(using him again) where nobody wanted to leave their comfy job even for a raise so we settled for Mel Tucker.

 

[modo]

The problem is getting younger on offense meant get rid of every reliable/proven NFL level skill position talent with the exception of an unreliable Jeffery. I just don't think Fox was brought in to get this team to the playoffs in years 1 or 2. Pace's moves don't really align with that. You might say they are aiming for year three or so but I don't see this team really competing for the playoffs in a meaningful way until 2018.

personally I think next year is a playoff spot possibility.......

I think they traded offense for a chance at greatness on the D.

They could have kept the aging and troubled offensive guys, but we really don't know how bad Bennett and Marshall were in the locker room.

I really would have like Forte another 2 years.....Pace is also the person who went out and spent for guys on the D which is near and dear to Fox...So Pace was in line with quick improvement, just on the defense and not the offense.

 

[Burrberry]

personally I think next year is a playoff spot possibility.......

I think they traded offense for a chance at greatness on the D.

They could have kept the aging and troubled offensive guys, but we really don't know how bad Bennett and Marshall were in the locker room.

I really would have like Forte another 2 years.....Pace is also the person who went out and spent for guys on the D which is near and dear to Fox...So Pace was in line with quick improvement, just on the defense and not the offense.

Marshall didn't seem like too bad of a guy. Besides the argument with Chris Harris(And argument/fighthappen all the time in the locker room)and him blowing up on everybody in the media I don't remember too much bad out of him. Wasn't the right call to publicly call people out like that in the media, but Trestman and the team sucked so bad I'm almost willing to call it a wash because I don't remember much else that was cancerous from him. Bennett seemed like a bigger distraction honestly. I would also have rode Forte until the wheels came off, but whatever we are where we are now.

 

[Burque]

personally I think next year is a playoff spot possibility.......

I think they traded offense for a chance at greatness on the D.

They could have kept the aging and troubled offensive guys, but we really don't know how bad Bennett and Marshall were in the locker room.

I really would have like Forte another 2 years.....Pace is also the person who went out and spent for guys on the D which is near and dear to Fox...So Pace was in line with quick improvement, just on the defense and not the offense.

Of Pace's 1st four draft picks, 3 of them were Offense so he certainly didn't ignore that side of the ball. Of course, we didn't get anything from the 1st pick yet, so we will see.

I think he spent more on defense in FA because the D was SO awfully under talented. Now the pendulum has swung a bit the other direction Albeit our offense is mostly just young and missing a few pieces, not really under talented that we can tell thus far, we will certainly know much more after about 6 or 8 games. I think we will see some spending on the O next year, get us a TE and a Lineman in FA.

I still think letting the old guys go will be good for us long term, just not sure that I will feel that way at the end of this season. All I am really hoping for this year is to still be in good contention for a playoff spot in December, If we can win ten games I would consider it a pretty damn successful turnaround from two years ago.

Hopefully Fox can finally get over the Super Bowl hump and win one with us.

 

[mecha]

He was the best coach available at the time. When you have a good coach on the market it attracts good assistants. This was a no brainer hire.

this is pretty important. consider the last 2 head coaches of the team, you had Lovie Smith who couldn't draw any premier offensive coaching, this is how you wind up with people like Mike Tice who couldn't even coach an offensive line calling plays. then you had Marc Trestman who had some of the worst defensive coaching ever with Mel Tucker, and fuckfaces like Aaron Kromer calling the offense. these were first-timer head coaches deeply rooted in one side of the ball philosophy. if you can't see teams that are run like this can't win championships (notable exclusion being the 2006 Bears who COULD HAVE if not for... a shitty offensive coordinator) then I don't know what else to tell you.

but hey, it's easy to say "omg John Fox makes the worst gameday decisions ever!!!1111" I didn't see him have the team go for a field goal on 2nd down yet, or did that already happen?

 

[Urblock]

I'm still waiting for you to lock that stupid ass Cago thread from a few days ago about Braverman being a DB....

Him and Mariani. We need some speed.

 

[mattb78]

I get it. Fox wasn't the sexiest hire out there. But sometimes there is a right coach for the right time.

As much as I was a critic of Lovie, when the Bears hired him, he was the right guy at the right time.. even though now he is a 2nd rate college HC.

Same thing for Fox. The Bears were in chaos. Kromer calling out Cutler. A slide to 5-11 for the 2nd year Trestman. Defense was a joke.

The Bears wanted to get back to Bears football. Hard nosed team. Defense first.

The Bears traded some ceiling on their hire for stability.

 

[Urblock]

WTF. He is 61. Hell, Arians, the guy everybody pines about missing out on, is 2 1/2 years older. Well into his 60's...Does anyone even check out simple facts before spewing bullshit.

I'm 56 so all the people bitching about age can suck it. There is a reason older men run the world.Hope hag Hill doesn't fuck that up