John Fox Is Suffering From Post-Clausen Syndrome
By Erik Lambert
People are still trying to figure out why John Fox remains so committed to Chicago Bears quarterback Mike Glennon as starter.
There has been plenty of evidence through the first three weeks that the 28-year old is not good. He’s sluggish on his reads, takes too many easy sacks, is inaccurate with a lot of passes and straight up refuses to push the ball down the field. Yet in spite of that inability to elevate or even operate a normal passing offense, Fox continues to trot him out there. So, again, why?
One reason could be the advice he got from friend and fellow coach Jeff Fisher. The former Titans and Rams head coach was notorious for sitting his rookie quarterbacks an extended period of time before putting them on the field, feeling it was never the best idea to just throw them out there. On the other hand, there may be a more logical and traumatic reason behind this strange stubbornness.
His name is Jimmy Clausen.
Jimmy Clausen rookie debacle cost Fox his first team
Back in 2010 Fox was head coach of the Carolina Panthers. It was the only team he’d known for eight years. Unfortunately by that point they were rebuilding somewhere and needed a fresh start at quarterback. Their choice was Clausen out of Notre Dame in the 2nd round. After a couple weeks where he periodically saw some relief work, Fox decided to make him the starter. That proved to be a huge mistake.
Clausen started 10 games, during which he threw three touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also completed less than 53% of his passes. Carolina was inert offensively and collapsed to a 2-14 record. Fox was fired shortly after. Since then it’d be safe to assume that the old coach developed a sincere distaste for the idea of playing a rookie quarterback.
Of course that’s not fair to Mitch Trubisky. He’s a #2 overall pick with significantly more talent than Clausen had. Still this is the situation the Bears are saddled with. Fox is so dead set against playing a rookie because he’s likely convinced it can’t end well. Meanwhile his “solution” to the problem had his passing yardage more than doubled by the running backs in the previous game.