The John Fox era in Chicago didn’t go very well, to say the least. The Bears went 14-34 in his tenure as head coach and never rose out of the cellar of the NFC North.
Fox was fired from coaching the Bears in January and Matt Nagy was hired on as his replacement. Since then, the Nagy hire has been praised left and right by former teammates, colleagues and peers. Nagy has helped spearhead an incredible off-season, alongside Ryan Pace and Vic Fangio, and optimism seems to be higher than ever in Chicago.
All the while, Fox took some time away from the sport and eventually took a job at ESPN as an in-studio analyst. We have yet to see Foxy in action as a member of the media, but he recently sat down with Jonathan Jones of Sports Illustrated to talk about the new position and his feelings about the Bears. He then revealed that he may feel like he has some unfinished business in the NFL…
When asked about if he’s shut the door on coaching again in the NFL, Fox had this to say…
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“No, I don’t think you ever shut the door on anything. I’m pretty open-minded.
This (ESPN JOB) is a new adventure for me. I might love it and shut my own door. I honestly don’t know. It’s just too hard to predict.”
Fox has had a successful history of coaching in the NFL outside of his three years in Chicago. He finished just above .500 in his time in Carolina and went 46-18 in his time with the Denver Broncos, making a couple of Super Bowl appearances in that time frame.
With that being said, Fox was dealt a poor hand when he first came to Chicago. The team was coming off of a rough year, where the previous head coach had completely lost the locker room. The roster was old, with a dearth of talent, and some “cancers” in the building.
To his credit, he came in and stabilized the organization and instilled a foundation that Nagy is certainly appreciative of. Fox is a leader of men and that’s one of the most important characteristics in a head coach. Another team could potentially find those characteristics valuable.
Would Fox ever be given another shot to coach in the NFL?
With his age (63) and the archaic form of offense he ran last year, the answer seems to be no. But, then again, we’ve seen crazier things happen in the NFL. All it takes is one team to give him a call to be their head coach.
Fox doesn’t seem too opposed to the idea.
