John Fox has opinions on things!

[oneofthemikes]

“Their challenge will be their passing game,” he said. “That’s where they were deficient last year."

[BearFan PHX]

I think the thing no one is saying is that we were very lucky to have Fox as our coach.

When he came in, we were obviously beginning an epic rebuild. No real coach with a winning attitude and his eyes on a future career would have taken the job. And you will see, this was Fox's last gig too.

Fox may not be the most modern guy, but he has presided over some good teams. Moreover, he knows how to build a locker room. He instilled some semblance of a culture into our team, which was about all he could have done, and to be frank, all he was qualified to do too.

When we had Ernie Accorsi as out interim GM/DIrector of Football Operations for a month, he installed a Parcells tree SYSTEM. Pace fits that mold and so does everyone else who has followed, including Fox. They switched to the 3-4 and now we will be one of the teams in the NFL that runs similar schemes year in and year out. This means we will draft the same kind of players to play the same roles for many years to come. Scouts and coaches will know which attributes to emphasize for each position, and rookies will play under vets that have similar strengths and weaknesses and can show them how to leverage their talent.

It also opens up a whole world of film study going back decades, where you can see a player with similar physical traits executing the same plays and techniques.

Gone are the days of picking the athlete that fell and looks like the best overall value. We suffered 20 years of that crap picking one David Terrell over another.

So we needed someone to bring us through the first few years, someone who had had success and could install the culture, from the way meetings are handled, to the terminology and to the general air of discipline and accountability.

Fox truly was a TEAM coach, and his successes were not necessarily on the field.

We were lucky to have him, and once he succeeded at his mission, it was time to let him go, and bring in a real coach, one who frankly never would have been interested had Pace and Fox not laid the groundwork.

And boy were were lucky to get Fangio.

[Stinger226]

Actually I think one of the reasons we got Fangio to come here was because of Fox, he has always had good coaches in his stable. Fox had a purpose but his conservative approach does not fit will in today's NFL I think Nagy's creative mind will.

[BearFan2000]

We had to know that when Fox was brought in that he wasn't the long term coaching solution, but he brought with him experience in building good culture, a unified locker room, ie the groundwork to the rebuild from the absolute mess that was the Bears under Emery/Trestman.  The team was atrocious on the field and off.  They looked like they could care less if they won/lost or even how bad they looked losing. The locker room was toxic.  Fast forward 3 years and we have a passionate new GM, and Fox's exit made room for an enthusiastic new Head coach who by all appearances has his teams respect, and we have turned over the roster to get younger, hungrier, and eager to take the next step.  You are right that when Pace/Fox came in we weren't an attractive landing spot for up and coming head coaches or top tier FA talent.  This past offseason FA's genuinely wanted to come here and be a part of something special here.  An up and coming head coach wanted to be here.  Fox served well as a transitional coach to help lay the groundwork for a real revival here.  His style on game day didn't lead to wins on the field or much in the way of innovation.  It was boring, predictable, and maddeningly conservative, but you could see a difference in the players and the culture within the locker room.  I'm excited about the future of the team for the first time in years.  

[BearFan PHX]

1 hour ago, BearFan2000 said:

We had to know that when Fox was brought in that he wasn't the long term coaching solution, but he brought with him experience in building good culture, a unified locker room, ie the groundwork to the rebuild from the absolute mess that was the Bears under Emery/Trestman.  The team was atrocious on the field and off.  They looked like they could care less if they won/lost or even how bad they looked losing. The locker room was toxic.  Fast forward 3 years and we have a passionate new GM, and Fox's exit made room for an enthusiastic new Head coach who by all appearances has his teams respect, and we have turned over the roster to get younger, hungrier, and eager to take the next step.  You are right that when Pace/Fox came in we weren't an attractive landing spot for up and coming head coaches or top tier FA talent.  This past offseason FA's genuinely wanted to come here and be a part of something special here.  An up and coming head coach wanted to be here.  Fox served well as a transitional coach to help lay the groundwork for a real revival here.  His style on game day didn't lead to wins on the field or much in the way of innovation.  It was boring, predictable, and maddeningly conservative, but you could see a difference in the players and the culture within the locker room.  I'm excited about the future of the team for the first time in years.  

yup yup. Go Bears!

[AZ54]

When the Cardinals brought in Denny Green I told someone that he was the right man for the job but his replacement would be the one to take the team to the next level.  Green had an eye for talent and could build a roster but he didn't put that talent all together on the field.  Let him build your roster then find your playoff coach, and Green's roster went to the Superbowl. 

I felt the same way about Fox when he was hired.  Not that he has the same eye for talent among players but he has the eye for talent among coaches and he will build a solid locker room.   He can build the foundation for you but he won't be your playoff HC.  Here we are.      

It's early but when I see Nagy talk about players I get the sense he understands how to evaluate talent, and, equally important, how to use it to his advantage.  Can he keep the discipline needed to achieve long term success?   We're in the honeymoon period now but we'll get some sense of that when things don't go well.