Dan Wiederer at the Chicago Tribune goes over some positives for the Bears at the midpoint of the season, starting with the nice job offensive coordinator Adam Gase has done:
“The 37-year-old offensive coordinator has been as good as advertised and will remain a hot name in head coaching searches when January rolls around. To measure Gase’s biggest impact, look first at the performance and poise of quarterback Jay Cutler.”
It’s far too early to talk about losing coaches. But like most of Chicago, I recognize that he’s certainly been doing well and may deserve his shot.
But count me as one guy who is happy with one of the coaches that Wiederer didn’t mention: defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
Case’s unit has helped Fangio a lot with a wonderful, ball control offense that I, for one, never thought they had the discipline or the offensive run blocking to pull off. Nevertheless, what Fangio has done with almost no talent on the defensive side of the ball is nothing less than a miracle. The Bears are currently eighth in the league in total defense and fifth in passing defense. All this with a patchwork defensive line that wasn’t very good even when healthy, one very good linebacker in Pernell McPhee, and one average corner and average safety in Kyle Fuller and Adrian Amos, respectively. It’s one of the most unbelievable things I’ve seen since I’ve been a Bears fan.
To his credit, Wiederer does point out the major force behind all of this:
“[Bears head coach John] Fox vowed from his first day on the job to build a smart and tough football team and is clearly succeeding. His skills as a motivator have been lauded across the locker room. His penchant for utilizing bright and experienced assistants has also elevated the Bears’ preparation.”
Amen.
Fox has shown himself capable of attracting some of the best assistants in football, something that Lovie Smith was only marginally successful at. Smith hired people he’d worked with before whenever possible and that severely limited his choices, particularly on the offensive side. He also didn’t like coaches who disagreed with him like Ron Rivera. “Creative tension” wasn’t in his vocabulary and he ended up with a lot of “yes men” on his staffs.
Fox doesn’t have any of that. He’s gotten the best available and let them do their jobs. And the Bears have benefited and will continue to benefit. Yes, when you hire good coaches you are bound to eventually lose them. But Adam Gase or not, the Bears are set up for a bright future as long as Fox is the head coach.
Very Quick Comments: Bears at Packers 11/27/15
Both the best and the worst thing about watching football on Thanksgiving is that you get to watch it with family. Surrounded by almost 20 of the closest people in the world to me, many of whom grew up watching football with me, is one of the greatest pleasures I get all year. But concentrating completely on the game and taking notes was simply impossible. I might as well have been watching in the middle of a hurricane. So my notes on this wonderful Bears victory will be brief and to the point if for no other reason than I don’t have as much as usual to say.
Defense
Offense
But fair is fair. This is the game that I was pointing to all year as Cutler’s watershed. Based upon past history, it’s exactly the type of game he should have collapsed in. When the Packers came out swinging, confused him, put a lot of pressure on him, and forced him to throw a near interception early in the first quarter, I thought that’s what was going to happen. The offense started with repeated three and outs and I was convinced the Packers were going to wear the courageous Bears defense down to a nub.It didn’t happen. Cutler hung in there and the Bears re-grouped. It was ugly but they managed to possess the ball and keep the defense off the field. And it was largely due to Cutler and his mobility and the fact that he kept calm and adjusted.It’s going to be very hard to continue to trash Cutler from here on out. This was a big game for him.
Miscellaneous
Up until this game, my assessment of the Bears has been one of a talent deficient but well-coached team, especially on defense. But how talent-deficient can they possibly be and still beat the Packers in Lambeau? It’s obvious that I’m going to have to spend some time re-assessing this team. I’d still like to see more but based upon the last two games against two of the better teams in the league, I might be under-estimating them.
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