John Fox is out in Denver

[Gronk]

I don't get it. The Bears are fishing in the dark if this vacuous retread tops their list.

The Bears case is a bit unique in that as a franchise they have never - never - hired a HC with NFL head coaching experience (assuming you're okay excluding team founder George Halas' having coached the team in a few separate, interrupted stints).

Fox isn't the best coach in the league, certainly it's debatable what level he belongs at, but he has won in both jobs he's had. The Bears need to buy a known commodity and among what's out there it's pretty obviously the right move for them. Because they bungled the Trestman hire so badly - they had Bruce Arians in the building and wanting the job 2 years ago. But they wanted to run him through a mock press conference (an art at which Trestman certainly proved to be an absolute joke), and force Arians to keep certain coordinators (whom have since been fired along with everyone else) rather than give him control over his own staff. So he walked.

Time will tell if Fox in Chicago proves to be better than any of the other hires this season (Bowles, Del Rio, etc.) but I think shortchanging him as simply a rider of Manning's coattails or product of his coordinators shortchanges him unfairly, as he's proven to be a solid, if albeit unspectacular and undecorated NFL HC. But the truth is...that's about all you can prove walking into a new job. Mike Tomlin, Mike McCarthy, and John Harbaugh could have all been disastrous hires for their respective teams. They weren't - but the Bears aren't in a position to take that kind of risk on a position coach or relatively inexperienced coordinator. They already made the stupid hire with that stooge Trestman, now they need someone to come in and take control and run it like a real NFL team. No one's expecting Fox to walk in and deliver a Super Bowl win, or even make the playoffs right away. And between 1) the level of incompetence displayed in the Bears organization over, really, several decades, and 2) the Cutler contract and his performance looking like a huge albatross towards rebuilding the team quickly, and 3) the defense being almost entirely devoid of anyone you'd want to keep.....I'm not sure it's even that attractive of a job that you can assume you could get, say, Dan Quinn to take it in a few weeks. And it is a good job if you think you can win there. If you win a Super Bowl in Chicago, you would be GOD. It's been damn near 30 years and Ditka still resonates. Whether that's because the '85 Bears were so good, or because the since-'85 Bears have been alternately so disappointing or so outright terrible....well, probably both.

A new Belichick isn't walking into any of these other teams offices. It's one of the things that makes us need to be thankful for the stability and quality of the program in NE over the past decade and a half. It may be fair to label Fox a "retread", and it's certainly not a high-risk/high-reward type of hire. But amongst what is actually out there, there isn't a whole lot to be excited about. You get the best coach you can. They think that's Fox, and I agree.

 

[Tunescribe]

The Bears case is a bit unique in that as a franchise they have never - never - hired a HC with NFL head coaching experience (assuming you're okay excluding team founder George Halas' having coached the team in a few separate, interrupted stints).

Fox isn't the best coach in the league, certainly it's debatable what level he belongs at, but he has won in both jobs he's had. The Bears need to buy a known commodity and among what's out there it's pretty obviously the right move for them. Because they bungled the Trestman hire so badly - they had Bruce Arians in the building and wanting the job 2 years ago. But they wanted to run him through a mock press conference (an art at which Trestman certainly proved to be an absolute joke), and force Arians to keep certain coordinators (whom have since been fired along with everyone else) rather than give him control over his own staff. So he walked.

Time will tell if Fox in Chicago proves to be better than any of the other hires this season (Bowles, Del Rio, etc.) but I think shortchanging him as simply a rider of Manning's coattails or product of his coordinators shortchanges him unfairly, as he's proven to be a solid, if albeit unspectacular and undecorated NFL HC. But the truth is...that's about all you can prove walking into a new job. Mike Tomlin, Mike McCarthy, and John Harbaugh could have all been disastrous hires for their respective teams. They weren't - but the Bears aren't in a position to take that kind of risk on a position coach or relatively inexperienced coordinator. They already made the stupid hire with that stooge Trestman, now they need someone to come in and take control and run it like a real NFL team. No one's expecting Fox to walk in and deliver a Super Bowl win, or even make the playoffs right away. And between 1) the level of incompetence displayed in the Bears organization over, really, several decades, and 2) the Cutler contract and his performance looking like a huge albatross towards rebuilding the team quickly, and 3) the defense being almost entirely devoid of anyone you'd want to keep.....I'm not sure it's even that attractive of a job that you can assume you could get, say, Dan Quinn to take it in a few weeks. And it is a good job if you think you can win there. If you win a Super Bowl in Chicago, you would be GOD. It's been damn near 30 years and Ditka still resonates. Whether that's because the '85 Bears were so good, or because the since-'85 Bears have been alternately so disappointing or so outright terrible....well, probably both.

A new Belichick isn't walking into any of these other teams offices. It's one of the things that makes us need to be thankful for the stability and quality of the program in NE over the past decade and a half. It may be fair to label Fox a "retread", and it's certainly not a high-risk/high-reward type of hire. But amongst what is actually out there, there isn't a whole lot to be excited about. You get the best coach you can. They think that's Fox, and I agree.

Thoughtful post. If Chicago hires him, I just see Fox as a temporary placeholder vs. a long-term prospect with vision who can move the franchise forward. Somebody like Quinn, with a strong defensive resume, seems more attractive as a guy that could grow into the job. I'd like to see the Bears do well, hopefully Quinn is in the mix there.

I feel sorry for Trestman.

 

[Gronk]

Cheers. I don't disagree with the placeholder thing at all - I think they're just in a tough spot and there's slim pickins out there, at least from what I see. I like Quinn. I just don't assume that it's an option for them. He might prefer a similar situation personnel-wise but with a more finite answer at QB in Atlanta. Even so I think Fox's 13-yr advantage in HC experience would carry a ton of weight in this specific situation.

I feel bad for Trestman in the sense that he was clearly overmatched by the responsibility of managing an NFL team. Like he thought it was going to be whispering a few sweet nothings in Jay Cutler's ear and everything else would shake itself out, Super Bowl in no time. But living in the area and having listened to him a lot he didn't do himself any favors. He was sold to the fans as the "smartest guy in the room" and a premier offensive strategist. He was a ****ing moron.