Chicago Bears: The end is near for the John Fox era

After the Chicago Bears lost to a Green Bay Packers team reeling from the loss of Aaron Rodgers it’s a matter of when, not if, head coach John Fox gets fired.

The Chicago Bears entered the bye week full of hope. Even with a pedestrian offense, the thought was that the second half, full of winnable games, would give the team enough wins to look respectable. They just went through the fire in the first half, facing some of the top quarterbacks in the NFL and finished with as many wins as they had all the 2016 season.

Then they played the first game of the second half and things changed.

The Bears played the Green Bay Packers, a team that came in losers of three consecutive games. The Packers were without all-everything Aaron Rodgers, who broke his collarbone in Week 6. The Bears were a favorite to win against Green Bay for the first time in nine years.

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The Bears laid an egg, however, and lost 23-16. It was a tough loss to swallow. In addition to Rodgers not playing, the Packers had their third-string running back playing. It didn’t matter as Brett Hundley, a quarterback with no career wins, made big plays and led his team to victory.

To add insult to injury, Bears head coach John Fox made a blundering call to challenge a call that had the offense first-and-goal from the Packers’ 2-yard line. He thought running back Benny Cunningham was in bounds when he reached for the pylon and that it was a touchdown.

The referees reviewed the play. They ruled that when Cunningham reached for the pylon, he lost control of the ball. The ball then touched the pylon. By rule, that becomes a touchback and Green Bay ball. As the announcers said after the call, Fox won the battle but lost the war.

It was a crucial mistake, as the chances of scoring a touchdown from the two were high. An offense with Jordan Howard should be able to punch it in from there.

I know some will bring up what happened in the Week 1 game against the Atlanta Falcons. the Bears had the ball on the 5-yard line late in the game and a touchdown would win the game. Except in that situation they passed and didn’t run the ball in. I think they’d learn their lesson and run it in.

Bad challenge isn’t only reason for firing

Of course, the bad challenge isn’t the only reason for Fox’s firing. We cant start off with his 12-29 overall record. If that isn’t enough, then there’s the 5-14 record after the bye week in 3 seasons.

The bye week is the time for players to recover from the bumps and bruises from the first part of the season. Additionally, the coaches take the time off to prepare a game plan for the rest of the season. Obviously, that isn’t happening with Fox. While not a very good record, 7-15 before the bye week is somewhat competitive. After the bye, it seems like they tank. That goes to coaching.

Another reason for Fox’s firing is the undisciplined play on the field. The Bears committed 8 penalties against the Packers. They also had another 4 that Green Bay declined. For the season, they’ve had 60 penalties called on them for a total of 482 yards.

If you still need another reason, there are the suspensions of players for PED use. Seven Bears players since 2015 (when Fox took over) got suspended while playing under John Fox. He shrugs it off and just blames the players, but a lot of players do this with Fox as their coach. When he was in Denver, they had a total of six suspensions for PED use (including DJ Williams and Von Miller). Additionally, six players who played in the 2003 Super Bowl for the Carolina Panthers were involved in a PED scandal. Julius Peppers was a player suspended the season before for the same reason.

I won’t even get into how horribly Fox is handling Mitchell Trubisky. I’ve gone over it previously so I won’t repeat it.

It’s time for the Bears to cut ties with John Fox. Hiring him did not work for the franchise. The time is here to let general manager Ryan Pace hire his own man. Can it be much worse than what the McCaskeys chose?

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