Hot Take Tuesday: Sometimes It Sucks to be a Bears Fan

Hot Take Tuesday: The Incoherent Rantings of a Belligerent Bears fan.

When the anger and frustration turns to disappointment, that’s when it’s more difficult to rant and rave for these weekly reaction pieces. I’ll be honest, the losses to the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions in back to back weeks really took the wind out of my sails for this season. So when it was time to look at the Philadelphia Eagles game, the thought, “Why bother?” entered my head.

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Everyone knew the Eagles were a far superior team. They are firing on all cylinders and there isn’t much of a weakness on the team. Alshon Jeffery now calls the City of Brotherly Love home, so while I have no ill will towards Jeffery, it still stings to watch him on the best team in the NFL (at least by record).

The outcome was no surprise. I didn’t hear anybody that thought the Bears would be competitive in this game. For our weekly staff picks, I called 38-16. I didn’t see a way to keep it close, but even with such low expectations, it’s still frustrating and disappointing to watch a game like that.

The problem with a game like that is that there is no growth for the team. They were shut down in every category. They looked bad on offense and defense. There was nothing to hang your hat on and say, this is what we are building on for 2018.

I haven’t given up hope on 2018. I think with the right coaching staff, this team can still make giant leaps next year. They have multiple pieces in place, but they need to have a solid offseason, another solid Ryan Pace draft, and they can win more games than they lose. I truly believe that. Look at the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bears aren’t too far off from that type of team that can compete.

But that brings us to the coaching staff. It’s a major problem, not just because they clearly aren’t getting the job done, but because the team knows that John Fox and his staff are gone. When you are an NFL player and you are sitting in the locker room and looking at your lame duck coach in the front of the room, it’s hard to get motivated to play for that coach. You know the season is lost, you know your coaching staff is gone, and if you aren’t giving 100% effort, you’ll get destroyed by your opponent.

That’s exactly what happened and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the effort lack against the San Francisco 49ers this week. The Bears are banged up and playing out the string. Yes they are professionals and should be fully motivated regardless of the situation, but they are humans, not robots, it’s tough to keep it all together.

I’ve never been a proponent of firing coaches in the middle of the season, especially in the NFL. The season is short, and teams rarely promote from within. Rarely does a promotion from within after firing the head coach work out well for the team. How does Ben McAdoo look this year? How about Dirk Koetter? It’s always better to hire from outside the organization and get a fresh look at the roster.

With that in mind, firing John Fox and putting Vic Fangio in charge doesn’t actually push the team forward for next season, it just lodges the team in neutral. Being that’s the case, usually it doesn’t make too much sense to fire your coach midseason. But in this case, it may be time to tell John Fox his time has come to an end. His attitude in press conferences is getting worse. He knows the season is lost and so is his job. He knows that this was probably it for him. Fox is almost 63-years old. He’s coming off a disastrous 3-year run in Chicago. What NFL team is going to hire him?

Fox could get a job as a defensive coordinator if he wants, but he’s been in charge of NFL teams since 2002. Does he really want to go back to being a coordinator at this point? He knows his career is over unless he wants to go into college or become an assistant coach. Those aren’t choices that a lot of 63-year olds want to make.

Fox is frustrated. He doesn’t like what he sees ahead for his future and it’s leaking out of him as head coach of the Bears. He needs to go. If Fox loses to San Francisco at home, it will be time to make the move. Hopefully Ryan Pace sees that too.

Chicago Bears

Quick Hits

• Jonathan Bullard played well, but he still isn’t consistently disrupting offensive plays.
• If Josh Sitton misses time with a concussion, the offensive line depth isn’t strong enough to sustain it. His absence will be noticed in both the run and passing games.
• Mitch Trubisky was bad, but with a banged up offensive line and no actual receiving threats, and of course, quite a predictable offense, it might only get worse.
• The Bears will have a tough choice with Prince Amukamara and Kyle Fuller. Need to re-sign one, won’t afford both. Fuller doesn’t have the consistency but doesn’t have the injury rap sheet of Amukamara and the Bears can’t afford to commit to a player who is on the shelf constantly.
• I still think Pernell McPhee could have been a great signing but injuries derailed him. I don’t see how the Bears keep him next year, he just isn’t having an impact.
• With Christian Jones inability to call plays and inconsistent play, can the Bears risk him being the backup ILB behind Danny Trevathan and Nick Kwiatkoski? If Jerrell Freeman can still play, do the Bears consider bringing him back despite two failed PED tests?
• If Jimmy Garoppolo plays well on Sunday, there are going to be a lot of Bears fans calling sports radio and saying that Pace should have traded for him in the offseason.