Chicago Bears: Is John Fox Good or Just Lucky?
By Erik Lambert
The arguments are already starting to flare up. Is John Fox really a good head coach or was he more a benefactor of good luck? Chicago Bears fans wonder.
For the first time in his entire coaching career, Fox has watched his team deliver a second-straight 0-2 start to the regular season. It blows a big hole in the theory that his teams are always better in the second years of his tenure. Now his quarterback and half his entire defense are nursing tough injuries. Suddenly not only is the season in jeopardy, but some feel so is Fox’s job.
Hard to believe considering what he’s accomplished. One would think he’d get the benefit of the doubt. Should he though? There is no denying the success Fox has had elsewhere, but in looking back over it all there is one question that deserves asking. Was the success due to his own skill or a rare amount of good luck?
That is what this article will try to determine.
Evidence of skill
2003 Panthers
His finest work was with the Carolina Panthers team in 2003. This was a team that went 1-15 just two years prior and played in a series of tight games all year. They went 4-1 in overtime including the playoffs. Keep in mind they did all this with a man who had never started before at quarterback in Jake Delhomme. To top it off they scored more points against a Bill Belichick Patriots defense than any other team in the Super Bowl.
Rapid turnarounds
It’s not easy for a coach to make a team used to losing understand how to win again. That takes a certain special kind of motivational ability. Something players have said Fox has in abundance. He turned the 1-15 Panthers of 2001 into a 7-9 team his first season in charge. In Denver he took over a 4-12 dispirited Broncos squad and pushed them to 8-8 in 2011, even winning a playoff game. That’s outstanding work.
Tebowmania
Delving even further to that 2011 year makes it an even more impressive feat. Not only did Fox bench his starting quarterback Kyle Orton during the season, he replaced him with Tim Tebow. Overcoming obvious flaws as a passer, Fox managed to craft a game plan around the spirited second-year QB that involved lots of running the football and tough defense. Combined with Tebow’s late game magic it worked. Denver somehow won the division.