Fox hiring brings promise of order
— -- To the Chicago Bears, John Fox may as well have been Bill Belichick, Mike McCarthy and George Halas all wrapped into one.
What Fox represents as an honest-to-goodness, real, live, professional NFL head coach was simply irresistible to a team and a fan base looking for a strong father figure for the broken home the team has become.
And, at this point, it's worth as much as a record of Super Bowl victories.
I don't know about you, but I just feel comforted, relaxed, a little safer with Fox in place. Somewhat disturbing, I know, but with the 13-year NFL head-coaching veteran, there is the promise of stability among the coaching staff, discipline within the team, and a semblance of order and compatibility in the building.
While these are all expected and present in other organizations, Chicagoans are painfully aware they have been rarities with the Bears the past few decades. Maybe one or two were there occasionally, but hardly ever all three at the same time.
It's kind of pathetic, in a way. You mean this coach will actually be able to draw top assistants? His team will listen to him? And on top of all that, he'll know how to call a timeout and have the correct number of players on the field?
We might be getting a little drunk with optimism at this point, but sadly, this is about where expectations are for the Bears right now: Avoid committing a league-high number of penalties; pull your quarterback back from the edge of football insanity; get your defense to tackle the guy with the ball. After that, maybe occasionally knock the ball away from him and then remember to give it to one of the best backs in the league.
That will suffice for a while, at least. Anything more during the first year and Fox will be a hero. Bears fans may be tough, but they're softer than a cashmere sweater once you give them a little something that does not include collective embarrassment most Sundays.
And there is reason to be a bit more hopeful.
Since Mike Ditka, the Bears have won four playoff games. Fox won five with Jake Delhomme. He won one with Tim Tebow, which is more than the Bears have won in the past four years. That 2011 season in Denver alone is enough to give a shivering city a warm ray of hope. The Broncos were 8-8, yes, but competitive, tough defensively and playoff-worthy.
Certainly it will be up to new general manager Ryan Pace to provide Fox with adequate talent, but based on Fox's 20-year track record as defensive coordinator and head coach with the Raiders, Giants, Panthers and Broncos, it should not take a team of Pro Bowlers for him to significantly improve a Bears defensive unit that played this past season as if it was trying not to offend anyone.
While Fox was certainly aided in Denver by the arrival of Peyton Manning, he did not squander Manning's talent, either -- unless you consider falling short of the Super Bowl this year, in large part because Manning was injured, a horrible coaching performance.
With Manning at quarterback and Fox in charge, the Broncos went 38-10 in the regular season and made it to the Super Bowl last postseason. They were among the best offensive teams in the league in 2013 and '14 under the defensive-minded head coach.
But it is Fox's history of improving teams upon which the Bears are hanging their helmets -- four more victories than the previous season in six different years. Bears fans will look especially longingly at his run to the Super Bowl in 2003 with Carolina, just two years after George Seifert's Panthers went 1-15, a feat that matched Vince Lombardi.
OK, deep breath.
While the Bears were thought to be on the cusp of a Super Bowl before this season began, it was obviously an illusion and not entirely former coach Marc Trestman's fault. Things happen. Players get injured. Decent draft choices don't pan out. And even good players don't always execute.
But the well-coached ones usually do. And well-managed ones don't destroy locker rooms. And a real, honest-to-goodness NFL head coach looks pretty good about now.
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