A John Fox quote must almost always be taken with a grain of salt. Like most old school coaches including him, Bill Belichick and Andy Reid they prefer to keep their language in a narrow spectrum. Betray nothing to the media because they’re not out for the best interests of the team. That’s fair since he’s the head coach and it’s his job on the line.
Nonetheless there are certain times where Fox mentions something that can make it absolutely infuriating he’s still in charge of the Bears. Never mind the fact he’s 9-23 in his first two seasons with the team. There was always an underlying fear that the 62-year old wasn’t qualified to develop a young quarterback into a star.
There were good reasons to think so. For one Fox has never done it before. Every quarterback drafted under him since 2002 has failed to become an effective starter. For another his personal coaching history is strictly defensive-oriented. His credibility for this job of turning Mitch Trubisky into the franchise quarterback he can be is low.
One John Fox quote reaffirms how lacking in foresight he is
This is not to say that Fox is a bad coach. His track record says differently. At the same time he’s not thought of in the upper tier too often. There have been criticisms over the years from his laid back style, lack of discipline and attention to detail. These are not good traits to have when coaching quarterbacks.
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Perhaps nothing signified his glossing over of the details more than this seemingly innocuous quote following the Bears’ preseason win in Arizona. Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times caught wind of it.
“Glennon, who was not sacked, played behind the starting offensive line.
Trubisky, who was sacked once, pulled down by the facemask another time and hit below the knees on a third excruciating play, was protected by Taylor Boggs, Tom Compton, Cyril Richardson, William Poehls and Bradley Sowell. One of the five might make the team.
Asked if he’d like to pair the No. 2 overall pick with superior blockers, Fox said the matchup is all relative — he was facing worse defenders, too.”
See now that sounds logical enough. The level of competition is even because it’s backups against backups. Only the thing is that’s not true at all.
Backup blocking isn’t the same as backup blitzing
Offensive line play in the NFL isn’t as simple as it sounds. There’s a reason players say the best fronts are ones that play together for a long time. Timing and rhythm are huge parts of proper execution when it comes to things like pull blocks and above all blitz pickups. So throwing five guys who don’t know each other on the field with zero chemistry is bound to create plenty of snafus.
Especially against a defense that likes to blitz. A defense like the Arizona Cardinals, for instance? One of the ugly hits Trubisky endured in that game was courtesy of an exotic blitz call. On the play they brought six men. This created a number of one-on-one blocks, allowing a defender to slip through and drag him down by his facemask.
The other play, a low hit to his knee countered the other part of Fox’s argument. It wasn’t just poor blocking that Trubisky had to worry about. It was dumb play by a “worse” defender. Specifically a guy who forgot the rule that you can’t hit a quarterback low.
A little more weight or awkward position and the Bears lose their prized draft pick for the year and in all likelihood Fox loses his job. Of course his stubborn stance on Mike Glennon as starter is bound to do that anyway. In the end maybe it is good that Chicago keeps Trubisky on the bench.
At least this way the man who replaces Fox in 2018 won’t have to worry about inheriting damaged goods.
