John Fox and The Three Games That Killed His Bears Career

John Fox has plenty of reasons stacking up for why he should be fired by the Chicago Bears when the 2017 season concluded in the next seven weeks.

Sure there might still be hope for him. The Bears could roll off an improbable run down the stretch and finish with a winning record. Then again this team hasn’t had more than two wins in a row since 2013. That should speak to the odds of it happening at this point. There are a number of references to make in regards to what’s gone wrong for him, but one could boil it down to three specific games that ultimately decided his fate.

Three games that had he won them might’ve made things not look so awful like they do now.

December 6th, 2015 vs. San Francisco 49ers

This is the game fans were stewing over the most until a game later on this list. Thinking about it still stings for many. The backdrop is important. Chicago had just come off one of its biggest victories in years. Facing the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers on Thanksgiving night, Brett Favre appreciation night no less, the Bears played the role of spoilers. They stunned Lambeau Field with a 17-13 win. It had all the signs of a signature victory for Fox.

Then it all came crashing down. Next week at Soldier Field they were facing a woeful 49ers team with draft bust Blaine Gabbert at quarterback. By all accounts it should’ve been a slam dunk. Instead the day was marked by Gabbert throwing for 196 yards and running for 75 including a 44-yard back breaker for a touchdown that eventually led to overtime. Gabbert then hit Torrey Smith for a 71-yard score to win it. All the momentum was lost and Chicago won just one more game the rest of the way.

November 13th, 2016 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This game was a double whammy of pain. The Bears ended the first half of their season on a high note. Though they were 2-6 it was coming off a big win on Monday night over the rival Minnesota Vikings. It looked like they were going into the bye with some good steam. Better still they were getting healthy at quarterback with Jay Cutler returning. Next was a game in Tampa Bay against a Buccaneers team they’d beaten just a year earlier.

Despite big days from Jordan Howard and Leonard Floyd, the game was an utter nightmare. Cutler barely completed half his passes and threw two brutal interceptions including a pick-six to former Bear Chris Conte that set the tone for the entire game. Tampa dominated from wire to wire, crushing Chicago 36-10. Cutler was injured the next week in New York and never took another snap in a Bears uniform.

November 12th, 2017 vs. Green Bay Packers

This is the one that may be called the final “nail in the coffin.” Once again the Bears had some momentum coming out of the bye week. They’d won two of their last three games. Better still the Packers didn’t have Aaron Rodgers and it was at Soldier Field. The only way Chicago could possibly lose this game is if they let Green Bay dictate the tempo early. Well that’s exactly what happened. The Packers defense shut down Jordan Howard early and began attacking Mitch Trubisky.

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Even worse, backup QB Brett Hundley started having success for the first time this season. His 19-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams shortly after the Bears had narrowed it to 16-13 was especially painful to watch.  It dropped them to 3-6 on the season and Fox to 1-5 against Green Bay. It was by far the most inexcusable performance by his team in the past three years. A coach is only allotted a certain amount of these when he’s not winning, and Fox has used all of his up.