All head coaches like to say that every game on an NFL schedule is the same. The opponent doesn’t matter. They’re all the same. Except that’s not true at all. All opponents are not created equal in this league. Nowhere is it truer than between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. Anybody who thinks other games mean as much as this one to Bears fans needs to consider following another sport. Beating the Packers isn’t just about bragging rights. It can often set the tone for an entire year. John Fox has not learned this.
Fox is an old school coach who spent time with the Panthers and Broncos. Those two franchises are good, but they don’t have anywhere close to the history that Chicago does. None of their rivalries can touch what the Bears and Packers have. To Fox this coming week is just another game they have to win, and that’s the problem.
Look back at the most successful Bears head coaches of the Super Bowl era. Lovie Smith declared the first objective when he took over was beat Green Bay. Mike Ditka had been a Bears player for years. He grew up hating the Packers since he arrived in the NFL. Meanwhile guys like Dave Wannstedt, Dick Jauron and Marc Trestman? They never got it.
John Fox inability to solve Packers problem isn’t being ignored
People love to remember the Thanksgiving night miracle in 2015 when the Bears shocked the Packers at Lambeau Field. Thing is Fox is 0-4 in the other games. Amazing as it sounds that victory remains the high point of his coaching tenure in Chicago. Not a single person would dispute it.
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How’s this for a stat then? Every year a head coach since Ditka has been fired by the Bears, it involved back-to-back defeats against the Packers.
Marc Trestman (2014)
- Lost 38-17
- Lost 55-14
Lovie Smith (2012)
- Lost 23-10
- Lost 21-13
Dick Jauron (2003)
- Lost 38-23
- Lost 34-21
Dave Wannstedt (1998)
- Lost 26-20
- Lost 16-13
That certainly makes this upcoming Sunday a huge one for Fox. So many sub plots are in play. He’s 0-2 after the bye week so far in his tenure. He’s 1-4 against the Packers and now is in danger of losing to them for the third-straight year at home. If that happens with Green Bay not having Aaron Rodgers under center? Suffice to say the odds of Fox holding onto his job could vanish.
Chicago would fall to 3-6 and 0-3 in the division. Their playoff hopes will be all but dead and having been swept by the Packers for the fourth time in six seasons.
