Bears Blitz

Published by Michael Bacos on January 17, 2015
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The hiring of John Fox injected a sense of optimism that Chicago Bears fans have not experienced in a while. At the same time, Fox has been asked to do what he has successfully achieved twice in his career: resurrect a team from obscurity.

While Marc Trestman was coaching the Bears, he was trying to turn the team into something it wasn’t: a high-powered pass offense designed to win shootouts. Instead, quarterback Jay Cutler led the league in interceptions, while the offense never scored above 30 points last season. 

Trestman also underutilized Matt Forte, one of the NFL‘s top all-purpose running backs. The Bears were 30th in rushing attempts and 27th in rushing yards per game and total yards. 

On top of that, the Bears defense began to deteriorate, and the team that was once known as the “Monsters of the Midway,” started to become a distant memory. The back-to-back 50-plus-point games that the defense allowed was a far cry from the days of Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary and Brian Urlacher. 

If there is a guy who can bring that identity back, it is John Fox.

“If you close your eyes and someone says, ‘Defense and running the football,’ the first thing that is going to come to your mind is John Fox,” said Mike Rucker, a former defensive end for the Carolina Panthers who played under Fox, according to the Chicago Tribune‘s Brad Biggs (subscription required). 

In 2001, the Panthers were 31st in total defense. Fox becomes Carolina’s head coach the following season, and the defense ranks second. 

In 2011, Fox comes in again to rescue a Denver Broncos defense that is at the bottom of the barrel. He also transformed the Denver defense into the league’s second-ranked defense in the following year. 

If this is a pattern of things to come, next season couldn’t arrive any sooner in the eyes of Bears fans.

On the offensive side of the ball, Fox was constantly criticized in Denver for being too conservative. Woody Paige from The Denver Post hammered Fox during a 2013 divisional-round playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens.

Paige was frustrated that Fox decided to have Peyton Manning take a knee on their own 20-yard line with :30 left and two timeouts in a tie game instead of trying to get into field-goal range for the win.

However, the combination of a rarely utilized elite running back and a turnover-prone quarterback perfectly suits Fox’s conservative style. On ESPN 1000’s Carmen and Jurko, former Panthers QB Jake Delhomme said, speaking about Fox, “The mentality with John, just, ‘use our running game, take what they give you and when we have a shot, make sure we take it down the field.'” 

Delhomme continues to note that Matt Forte is still a top-five running back and under Fox, “he’ll be put to good use.”  

Of course, there are the concerns regarding what the Bears are going to do with Cutler. It is too early to determine that right now. However, if Fox’s conservative style leads to more carries for Forte and less chances of Cutler throwing an interception, then he would have his own ticker-tape parade on Michigan Avenue.

John Fox has an understanding of what happened in the Bears’ locker room last year. In a 2013 interview with The Denver Post‘s Matt Kizla, he stated:

They’ll lose confidence in you quickly if you don’t make the right calls, and that goes for how you pick the team, what you do in trades or how much money management spends.

The question is: How committed is this organization to winning? Players will turn on the organization. Players will turn on the coach. Players will turn on each other. This game is only fun when you win. It’s hard work. It’s a blue-collar job.

Hard-nosed, smash-mouth, blue-collar. It defines the Monsters of the Midway. It is what the city of Chicago is all about. John Fox will fit in just fine.

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