Chicago Bears Draft Approach Is Clear If John Fox Stays
By Erik Lambert
There is little mystery to John Fox when it comes to high draft choices. Particularly top 5 draft choices like the one the Chicago Bears are lining up for.
With their latest defeat at the hands of the Tennessee Titans, the team has dropped to 2-9 on the season. It’s their worst run since 2002 and has put their head coach squarely on the hot seat. No doubt injuries have played a central part to the struggles. Chicago already has 14 players on injured reserves and the latest news regarding Danny Trevathan makes one think it will soon be 15. Playoff contention hopes ended a month ago. Eyes have already turned to 2017 and what the Bears will do.
Of course the future of Fox as head coach remains central to the conversation. Whether he stays or goes will be the first, biggest domino to whatever the team does next. Things are not looking good for him, that’s for sure.
And if #Bears lose John Fox will have to run the table over final 5 weeks to finish with same record as Marc Trestman (13-19) after 2 years.
— Jeff Dickerson (@DickersonESPN) November 27, 2016
Being mentioned in the same breath as Trestman can’t be a good thing. Fox knows every loss that piled up adds to the frustration of the team brass. Injuries have played a part in the problems, but so has lots of undisciplined play and poor game management. That falls on him. If Chicago decides to give him one more chance it will be because they aren’t anxious to dump his contract this soon, more than anything.
At the same time it will also have a profound impact on what their likely draft strategy will be next April. Fox has been on two teams that held a top 5 pick going into a draft. Each time the end result was the same.
- 2002: Panthers select Julius Peppers 2nd overall
- 2011: Broncos select Von Miller 2nd overall
Everybody talks about a quarterback but Fox is a defensive guy at heart. That is how he has won games most of his career. The upcoming 2017 class is rich in defensive talent, particularly pass rushers like Myles Garrett, Jonathan Allen and Derek Barnett. Odds and history both say that Fox will push to give the Bears defense another guy to get after the quarterback. He’s never developed a rookie QB into a starter before. Why would he look to start now?
Great defense is fine and good. At the end of the day though Chicago is going to have to answer this quarterback question in the draft. John Fox, for all his credibility and experience, doesn’t look like the man for that job.