Bears Mailbag - Why Not Fire John Fox Now?

Welcome to the Week 11 edition of our Bears Mailbag. Last Sunday's brutal loss to the Packers was very likely the final straw in John Fox's Bears coaching tenure. Coming out flat and losing to Brett Hundley, at home, in such a fashion is sure to rile up anger at Halas Hall. And it reportedly already did. With the Bears at 3-6 and facing an uphill climb to just get to .500 this season, we reach into our Mailbag and tackle this week's pressing questions. Thanks to everyone who participated!

I brought this up shortly after that game ended, actually. I wondered aloud on Twitter about what the harm would be in firing Fox right away, promoting Vic Fangio (or Dowell Loggains) to head coach right now, giving full offensive autonomy to Loggains, and going from there. At the very least, Ryan Pace could evaluate his in-house options with real game action and see how his players respond to the change. At this point, the Bears have nothing left to lose. They know what John Fox brings to the table, and there isn't much more room for growth left under his leadership. It's clearly time to start again.

Well, as of Monday, Fox was still the head coach, so it seems Pace didn't take my advice too seriously. The reality is it was always a long shot that he'd be fired before season's end. Traditionally, the Bears just don't make in-season changes like that (why they don't is another matter altogether), but it's likely they didn't want to pay Fox for free as well when they are still paying Marc Trestman to stay away. While frustrating for fans, I get it. It's not our money, after all. Still, from a football perspective, there's nothing left to gain keeping Fox around. He does an inconsistent job getting the team ready to play, so if anything maybe the consistency would improve if he were removed. But it just doesn't seem like something we'll see this season, no matter how much I'd have liked to.

It's fascinating, I saw a clip recently where Jim McMahon said something similar about the McCaskeys and their ownership preventing the Bears from progressing. The reality is the McCaskeys are unlikely to ever sell the franchise. The franchise runs in the family and honestly they have no reason to sell it. Contrary to popular belief, the family truly does bleed orange and navy blue, and are legitimately upset when the Bears lose, just like the rest of us fans. It's not just about the money for them, though it is a big part of it. The Chicago Bears are a business, after all. My understanding is that Phillips is involved on the business side, no longer on the football operations side. So he doesn't really have much influence on personnel and roster decisions anymore. And that's good. Ryan Pace has done a pretty damn good job overall constructing this roster, and is likely one more offseason (and HC decision) away from vaulting the Bears into true contention.

I honestly think the only reason Hroniss Grasu still has a roster spot is because Chicago lost Eric Kush in the preseason to an injury. Kush filled in more than capably last year and was rewarded with an extension in the offseason. Grasu has battled injury after injury and hasn't performed well when he has been on the field. I liked him in a zone running scheme when he came out of Oregon from a technique and fundamentals perspective, but knew he needed to add a lot of strength. But for some reason, he just hasn't been able to hold his own. And his days as a Bear are likely numbered.

The way it's shaping, the Bears will have a Top 15 pick in April's draft, and very possibly a Top 10 pick if all continues to go south for John Fox & Co. After watching this team dominate the Steelers for 3.5 quarters and the Panthers for 4 quarters, then lose to the Packers, who knows what they'll do next? The biggest needs for the Bears going into next season are wide receiver and pass rusher. Chicago has picks in only two of the first three rounds, so they need to be sure they hit on whomever they pick. If I had to guess, because receiver is such a dire need and that will impact Mitch Trubisky directly, I'll guess they go with a receiver. And I'm hoping that Calvin Ridley is available when the Bears pick. I think he's a no-brainer. His quickness and playmaking ability are incredible, and after watching him gash Mississippi State in crunch time last Saturday on the road, he'd be a lot of fun to watch paired with a healthy Cam Meredith.

What's amazing is that John Fox told his team that the Packers were just another opponent on the schedule, and that the game was just another game. That's unacceptable. This is a rivalry game, and has been since 1920. It was their 196th meeting! It's not just another game. I can promise you that the McCaskeys must have been pissed off hearing Fox downplay that game. Beating the Packers is important to them. The fact that the Packers, after getting demolished at home by the Lions on Monday Night Football, and on a short week, came into Soldier Field and whipped the Bears on both sides of the ball shows that they didn't treat it as just another game. They had an extra gear for this one. It's unacceptable that the Bears were coached not to.

Alberto Riveron has no doubt screwed the Bears over the last two weeks. The Zach Miller overturned TD has gone down in infamy. The fact that Riveron published a video explaining his reasoning that was as inept as his initial overturn was embarrassing for the NFL. The second one is a bit more fascinating, but Riveron definitely screwed it up as well. Cunningham was ruled out of bounds on the field. Despite it being a close play, an automatic review was not triggered because it was not a scoring play (or turnover at the time), nor did the play occur inside two minutes where an official can initiate one on their own. John Fox thought Cunningham scored a touchdown, so he challenged. The issue is when a play is challenged, the entire play is up for review for things outside the original call and challenge scope, but any overturn would have needed indisputable evidence to do so. The replays showed that Cunningham definitely did not score a touchdown -- out of bounds or not, he lost control of the ball before it hit the pylon, so the best the Bears could have hoped for was the original ruling on the field of out of bounds. The worst would be a touchback. The issue is that there really is no replay angle available that shows INDISPUTABLY that Cunningham was still in bounds when he lost control of the ball. Because of that, they had no business overturning the call into a touchback. Dean Blandino said himself that there wasn't enough evidence to overturn, yet Riveron did anyway. It's inexplicable. Yes, Fox should not have challenged that play to begin with -- the risk of losing a timeout was larger than the potential gain of a yard. How anyone on the Bears missed the potential of a fumble is beyond me as well. That's just bad coaching and decision making. What's hilarious is that Chicago actually won the challenge. The original ruling of out of bounds was overturned, so Fox was "right" based on the result. He kept his challenge and timeout, but lost the ball. If there was ever anything to describe the John Fox Bears in one sequence, that was it.