For the third straight season of the Ryan Pace-John Fox administration, the Bears failed to produce a player voted to the Pro Bowl. Congrats on the consistency, guys.
That’s a stunningly inept combination of failing to draft, sign and develop players, revealing the most savage indictment of a GM and coach, the greatest betrayal of the changes Pace and Fox were supposed to make.
In no particular order, Pace and Fox weren’t smart enough or deft enough to dump Jay Cutler immediately. Then they removed offensive playmaker after offensive playmaker without sufficiently replacing the weapons and also dumped one of the most reliable kickers in NFL history and the franchise’s all-time leading scorer in favor of all kinds of worse. I mean, it’s a photo finish to decide whether Pace and Fox have been worse with kickers or receivers.
In the end, all the smart-guy moves did nothing but saddle the death-spiraling franchise with a fourth straight season of 10 losses or more and put the coach demanding only personality-free players at the cost of talent on the verge of finishing with the worst winning percentage in the long history of the NFL’s first franchise.
It’s so obvious that even a garden-variety McCaskey could see the disaster.
Now the trick is to see if a garden-variety McCaskey knows where to start to fix it.
The talent has to improve. That’s first. But second perhaps is putting that talent in position to make plays aggressively borne of the coach’s aggressive mindset.
Playing to win instead of Fox’s agonizingly awful idea of playing not to lose is the first part of the culture that has to change when the next regime gets here.
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Here’s the thing: While Fox has been playing not to lose, all the Bears have done is lose. Hel-LO. Stop the stupid. That’s what the next regime will have to change. There’s too much turtling under Fox.
The new guys who come in, or at least the new head coach who comes in because I think Pace survives this self-inflicted wound, must come in with an aggressive attitude. It was Al Davis, the champion rogue owner of the Raiders, who famously uttered some version of “we don’t take what the defense gives us, we take whatever the hell we want.’’
By going for first downs on fourth-and-1 and fourth-and-2, a coach can accomplish two things in changing the culture of a team the way Fox and Pace have failed to change the Bears culture, other than make it worse, I mean.
First, a coach shows belief in his offensive line that it can get the job done, whether by surging forward for the necessary yardage or holding blocks to give the skill position players time to convert the play.
Second, a coach shows belief in his defense to hold the opponent if the offense fails.
I think players want that kind of responsibility on the field and in the locker room. Of all the ways to feel like a great teammate, making a big play or contributing to a big play is at the top of the list or close. That’s the job. That’s what your teammates expect. That’s what you expect of your teammates. That’s how a culture changes.
The Bears’ culture is hamstrung by bad personnel decisions and bad coaching. Playing not to lose is an admission of those failures. Once those failures have been met, reflected by, I don’t know, a 4-9 record, then maybe a clueless coach should consider changing the approach and go for it on fourth-and-1 at his 45-yard line while down only 6-0 in the second quarter OF THE 14TH GAME OF A SEASON THAT WAS ALREADY DESTROYED.
But no. Fox didn’t do that against the Lions on Saturday. Because that’s the way he is — the arsonist who also brings marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers to his latest blaze.
Fox’s replacement will have a lot of work to do. But he can start there. Start with an aggressive, attacking approach. Start with daring people to stop the Bears. It has to work better than the Bears’ being so scared that they stop themselves first.