Chicago Bears: Month-by-month 2017 season review
November (0-3 record)
Coming out of the bye week, hopes were high at Halas Hall. They didn’t have a losing record the past month and they faced an Aaron Rodgers-less Green Bay Packers. To add to it, the Packers had a short week, having played a Monday night game. Surely this was a win against the hated Cheeseheads right? Wrong.
The Bears came out listless instead of a team that wanted to kill their biggest rival. This is another thing Fox didn’t recognize — as a Bears coach you need to beat the Packers. That was one of the things that endeared former coach Lovie Smith to the fans — he declared that the Bears would beat the Packers.
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Instead, the Bears looked like they didn’t want to play. To make matters worse, Fox made a decision that would live in infamy.
Benny Cunningham caught a pass and went 23 yards. He dove for the end zone, but the referees called him out at the Packers’ 2-yard line. Fox and his assistants challenged the play, thinking Cunningham didn’t go out of bounds.
Well, Fox was correct, Cunningham didn’t go out of bounds. The problem was that as he dove for the pylon he lost the ball and it hit that pylon. By rule, it becomes a touchback and Packers ball. Even winning the challenge Fox lost. The Bears lost a chance at scoring a touchdown and they lost 23-16.
That decision pretty much ended Fox’s time in Chicago. After that, it was just a matter of when he’d get fired instead of if.
The Bears had another close game, this time against the Detroit Lions. They had a chance at winning or tying the game on the final drive. Fox decided to sit his two best players in the game, Cohen and Adam Shaheen on that drive even though they combined for 100 total yards and 2 touchdowns. In the end, Connor Barth missed a game-tying field goal. That miss also cost Barth a job. The Bears cut him after the game.
The low point of the season came in Philadelphia against the Eagles. The Bears again looked listless. The Eagles crushed the Bears 31-3 in a game that wasn’t even that close. The Eagles spent all day working on their touchdown celebrations. Fans started asking why Fox wasn’t fired yet. The Bears were 3-8 and many wondered if the Bears would win another game this season.