The defense rests.
And it has been resting, apparently, for quite some time here in Chicago.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll continue with the regularly scheduled John Fox love fest in a moment, but first some complaints.
Defense. Am I the only one left in this city who remembers that all our teams, good or bad, usually did this one thing well?
Seriously, we’re becoming some sort of Sun Belt city that doesn’t care about the minutiae of good defense anymore. I’ll be blunt. This has to stop.
First, the Bulls. Yeah, we’ve been kind of glossing over this because you know, they’ve been really fun to watch and they have a couple of guys who can actually score, so it’s kind of fun until … TOM THIBODEAU EXPLODES!
We’re starting to see this come apart a bit, and all I can say is let’s get back to basics, guys. It’s work, determination, effort. Also, desire, desire and then some desire.
I hear grumblings that Thibs’ rigorous practices and expectations are starting to wear thin.
Wear thin? Look at a typical roster every night. There are usually two to three guys who aren’t playing. They have (wink, wink) sore ankles or bruised elbows or perhaps sore eyelashes. Pick your poison. Guys are resting more than they’re playing. They should be overjoyed.
Not to be outdone, the Blackhawks. While laughing at the Packers on Sunday, I glance up and see a 6-3 blowout loss to Dallas.
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Guys, Ed Belfour, Chris Chelios and Steve Smith would be ashamed of you. Of course, it would take them six games to score what you score, but come on, clean this up!
In fact, let’s follow the lead of … the Bears. The Mel Tucker era is over, praise the lord! And in comes new D-coordinator Vic Fangio. He’s only one of the best.
With that name, how can he not be! Vic. Fangio. He was either destined to fix cars or fix defenses. Fortunately, it’s defenses.
4-3 or 3-4, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is John Fox is here, and he’s brutally honest.
And just like that, I’m not the only one. Welcome, sir.
Bag Boy is a RedEye special contributor.