John Fox is insistent on his stated goal for 2017. He still fully expects the Chicago Bears to compete for the division and make the playoffs. Problem is he’s going to need every shred of good luck he’s got left to make it happen. The Minnesota Vikings are cruising at 6-2. They already own a victory over the Bears and show no signs of letting up.
Even the wild card situation isn’t looking good. Excluding the division leaders, there are currently five teams with a better record than the Bears’ 3-5 mark. If that weren’t bad enough the Bears are already 0-2 in the division and 1-5 in the NFC. So unless they’re set to run the table for an 11-5 finish, their odds of reaching the postseason aren’t rosy.
This of course puts the future of Fox in question. He’s already had two losing seasons in Chicago at 6-10 and 3-13. General NFL creed is a coach must have at least one winning season in his first three to get more time. The Bears would have to go 6-2 during the second half to make that happen. Given the state of their passing game, that feels like an impossible task.
For one prominent former player, this may end up being a good thing.
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Boomer Esiason believes Bears can’t unlock Trubisky with Fox
He may not be on the top tier of memorable great quarterbacks, but for a stretch Boomer Esiason was one of the best in the business. His four Pro Bowls and MVP award prove that much. He also understands the value of having a head coach who understands the position he plays. It makes sense he’d be an advocate of having an offensive guy in charge.
The best stretch of his career between Cincinnati and New York always involved an offensive head coach. His lone year with a defensive guy may have been his worst. It’s this experience and his time spent watching the Bears this season that has him convinced. If Chicago wants to get the most out of Mitch Trubisky, they have to let Fox go.
“I don’t necessarily know that this is the coaching staff or the offense that is going to get the most out of him. This is a defense-first coach (Fox). I never like that. I always want to see an offensive coach, much like Sean McVay, handling a high draft pick, much like Jared Goff in L.A.”
Is he right? On average do offensive head coaches get more out of quarterbacks than defensive ones? This is seems like a fun little research project to explore.
Offensive vs. defensive head coaches at the QB position
Below is a breakdown of 10 top quarterback names from the Super Bowl era. Each is either a Hall of Famer, a champion or both. Under their names will be listed the coach(es) they had during their career and what sort of background they came from. Maybe it will shed some light on what Esiason is saying.
Peyton Manning
- Jim Mora (D)
- Tony Dungy (D)
- Jim Caldwell (O)
- John Fox (D)
Tom Brady
- Bill Belichick (D)
Brett Favre
- Mike Holmgren (O)
- Mike Sherman (O)
- Mike McCarthy (O)
- Brad Childress (O)
Drew Brees
- Marty Schottenheimer (D)
- Sean Payton (O)
John Elway
- Dan Reeves (O)
- Wade Phillips (D)
- Mike Shanahan (O)
Dan Marino
- Don Shula (D)
- Jimmy Johnson (D)
Joe Montana
- Bill Walsh (O)
- George Seifert (D)
- Marty Schottenheimer (D)
Terry Bradshaw
- Chuck Noll (D)
Fran Tarkenton
- Norm Van Brocklin (O)
- Allie Sherman (O)
- Bud Grant (O)
Eli Manning
- Tom Coughlin (O)
- Ben McAdoo (O)
So what does the final tally reveal? Of the 10 names listed above, six of them had an offensive coach for all or the majority of their careers. The interesting part here is in the championship department. Combined the six QBs who had primarily offensive coaches won 10 Super Bowls. The four who had defensive coaches? They won 11.
At the same time it’s worth noting those defensive coaches were aided by offensive assistants who went on to become head coaches themselves. Peyton Manning had Bruce Arians and Adam Gase. Brady had Josh McDaniels and Bill O’Brien. The point being that on average quarterbacks do better when they have an offensive head coach somewhere on the staff.
Jokes aside it’s clear the Bears need to think long and hard about what they’re going to do with Fox come January.
