John Fox Is Failing Where It Matters Most In Chicago
By Erik Lambert
Chicago Bears head coach John Fox clearly didn’t know what he was getting into when he accepted the job back in 2015.
At age 60 he probably thought his methods used in Carolina and Denver would apply to this franchise. Turns out he was wrong. For one the roster rebuild was more significant. For another? The rivalries are far more intense. None more so than the one with Green Bay. No team has haunted the Bears for the past 25 years more than the Packers as they’ve trotted Hall of Fame quarterback after Hall of Fame quarterback before them.
The franchise has desperately searched for a coach who had an answer to at least make them competitive. Fox, with his long history of divisional success seemed like a good choice. Apparently the 60-year old didn’t embrace the importance of this rivalry like one should. That’s likely why his job security is all but eroded by this point.
He’s fallen into the same trap most other short-tenured Bears coaches do. Here is a breakdown of every head coach they’ve had during the Super Bowl era and their record against the Packers.
- John Fox: 1-4
- Marc Trestman: 1-3
- Lovie Smith: 8-11
- Dick Jauron: 2-8
- Dave Wannstedt: 1-11
- Mike Ditka: 15-5
- Neill Armstrong: 3-3
- Jack Pardee: 5-1
- Abe Gibron: 2-4
- Jim Dooley: 2-6
Failure is not an option with Green Bay
Most of the coaches with terrible records against the Pack tended to experience the same thing. They’d get most or all of their wins early on in the first one or two seasons and then Green Bay would evolve past them and they’d get smacked down on a four or five-game losing streak. It’s not a coincidence that most of them were fired due in large part to those droughts. The lone anomaly in the bunch is Pardee. He pretty much owned the Packers during his run from 1975 to 1977.
So why didn’t he remain the Bears coach? Turns out he resigned in order to take the head coaching job with the Washington Redskins. It was the team he’d suited up for as a player. That was an ironic move for him since he’d just made the playoffs with Chicago in ’77 and never would in Washington. Regardless the list holds true. Coaches who can’t solve the Packers puzzle don’t last long.
This latest defeat was easily the most embarrassing. The Bears were unprepared and passive from the start against a team that was beaten up across their entire roster. Yet they still got blown out by 21 points. Why? They were outcoached. Plain and simple. That is unacceptable. It took a Packers drubbing to start Trestman on the road to unemployment back in 2014 (a 55-14 nightmare). The same goes for Dick Jauron in 2003 (a Favre 34-21 special). Fox has committed that crime now as well.
Every future Bears coach better recognize. Winning the Super Bowl is priority #1. Beating the Packers? That’s priority #1a.