LDN - Sports

Bears coach Fox has been through rumor mill before

[December 27, 2017] The Sports Xchange

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Chicago Bears head coach John Fox will continue fighting the good fight even while preparations to find his replacement seem to be underway.

Despite Sunday's 20-3 victory over the Cleveland Browns, Fox remains firmly entrenched on a hot seat as the Bears take their 5-10 record to Minnesota Sunday. And on Tuesday Fox found none of the talk about his future in Chicago particularly unusual.

"Well, it's not my first rodeo, you know?" Fox said. "I've been doing this for 28 years and 15 as a head coach so this is par for the course in this league. I think there's a lot of speculation every year, and this year is no different."

What was somewhat different this week was an unsubstantiated report on NFL Network saying Bears President and CEO Ted Phillips was already at work checking out potential candidates.

It was surprising partly because Phillips wasn't supposed to be involved in football operations after general manager Ryan Pace was put in charge of this in 2015, and also because Fox hasn't even been fired.

Fox said he hasn't discussed his future with Pace or anyone with the team.

"If I did, I probably wouldn't talk about it here," Fox told the media. "In fact, I think I'd probably be pretty positive I wouldn't. But really, those things are for the offseason. It's always been my approach every season and that part won't change, either."

Fox hasn't dwelled upon the large number of injuries the Bears have fought through in his three seasons. With 15 on injured reserve through Christmas, following a 2016 season with 19 on IR, it's an obvious out.

The Bears have gone through a change at quarterback from a failed veteran to a rookie, and had injuries take away their top three receivers. They lost Pro Bowl guard Kyle Long as well, and on the defensive side lost their top three outside pass rushers, a starting safety and for several games went without a handful of other starters.

Fox acknowledged it makes a difference.

"I think as I mentioned before, injuries are a part of every season," he said. "I think when you look at teams that probably have better records than others largely is -- not entirely, there's still games to be played and things happen when you play football games -- but I think a lot of times, the successful ones you've been fortunate in that department really all the way through the Super Bowl."

When lists of potential coaches come up, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is always among them simply because he's been a candidate elsewhere and also because he has the defense ranked eighth in the league overall this season, including eighth against the pass and ninth against the run.

Fox said defensive improvement in their 3-4 system since their complete overhaul began in 2015 has been a real accomplishment, and Fangio is a big part of it.

"I think he's done a tremendous job," Fox said. "You look at, since we got here three years ago, we were 32nd in the league, which is last. Now with one game remaining we're in the top 10. I think there's been a lot of growth there and I think he deserves some of that credit."

Then again, an area overhauled this year could be perceived as an explanation for the team's struggles. Letting Mike Glennon struggle through four games at quarterback and then using a rookie with little starting experience at college -- let alone the NFL -- has been a handicap.

"Right, wrong or indifferent, I think, again, you kind of spend currency on a position. And I think we kinda majorly overhauled that one," Fox said. "But I think for the long-term future, I think a good one."

Bears players were given off both Monday and Tuesday, and on Wednesday they will begin working for the season finale. So much talk about next year and a coaching change hardly seems like the necessary culture for pulling off a season-ending upset.

"It's just going out, having fun, and just doing what we love to do," receiver Josh Bellamy said. "Everything's not always going to be perfect. I've never seen a team that's just gone undefeated every year. We're just trying to build something here and keep it going. Hopefully this will lead into next year; building confidence and building each other up."

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After almost a year of hearing about what could potentially be Fox's last season, players might be numb to the talk.

"You know, they're pretty much conditioned, too," Fox said. "We've referred to it as outside noise, whether it was the 0-14 team coming in to play us or could be a 14-0 team coming in to play us.

"I think our guys understand what you need to do to focus and prepare for a game."

The easiest -- and possibly most legitimate -- out for Fox in all of this job scrutiny would be to claim the cupboard was entirely bare when he took over, and it required three years to restock.

"I think you just kind of, when you're doing this and you're in the trenches and you're doing it every day, you don't really know until you dig in," Fox said. "I think we've definitely made a lot of changes. Like I said many times, we've gone from the oldest roster in football to one of the younger ones now. I don't know exactly where we rank.

"I think we've got a good, young, talented roster. I think we still have holes. But at least we're kind of - I don't know - to me, we're at a level playing field now."

NOTES, QUOTES

REPORT CARD VS. BROWNS

--PASSING OFFENSE: B-plus -- The final passer rating of 87.8 by Mitchell Trubisky failed to impress, but he was red hot in the third quarter when the game mattered most and had a rating over 100 at one point. He was at 6-for-10 on third-down conversions. The passing game thrived against the blitz in the decisive third quarter with screens to Benny Cunningham and quick completions over the middle to Josh Bellamy and Kendall Wright.

--RUSHING OFFENSE: C-plus -- The makeshift offensive line failed to spring Jordan Howard until his 16-yard touchdown run off tackle, but the running game flourished in a different way. Trubisky's running accounted for two key first downs and 44 total yards.

--PASS DEFENSE: A-minus -- Kyle Fuller continued his reign of terror on quarterbacks with an interception and six passes defended. Holding DeShone Kizer to a 41.7 passer rating may not be the most difficult task, but the Bears did also prevent meaningful big plays. Of Kizer's 182 passing yards, 65 came on two completions that resulted in three points and 81 yards were to running back Duke Johnson. The rest of the game he struggled against a consistently strong pass rush that contained his ability to scramble. Sam Acho had five hits on Kizer to go with half a sack.

--RUSH DEFENSE: B-plus -- Cleveland's running game moved the Bears defensive front off the line for 53 first-half yards, but they had to eventually give up the run and running backs had only 67 yards. Nick Kwiatkoski and Danny Trevathan cleaned up with seven tackles each. The two made certain Kizer couldn't scramble up the middle.

--SPECIAL TEAMS: B -- It started as a potential disaster with a false-start penalty on a punt and a deflected extra-point kick. But then it quickly turned with a 28-yard punt return by Tarik Cohen, an excellent 45.1-yard punting day from Patrick O'Donnell in poor conditions and 13 yards allowed per kickoff return.

--COACHING: B -- The emphasis on screen passes against Gregg Williams' blitzing defense was overdue when the adjustment was made in the second half, but definitely necessary on a day when Trubisky was sacked four times. First-down plays were a better blend of passes and runs in the second half after it was predictably running plays in the first half. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had the pass rush designed well to keep Kizer from rolling outside to throw, which is where he can do plenty of damage. Coaches kept the Bears focused for a game against an poor opponent on a holiday with nothing to gain beyond pride.

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