The Chicago Bears won their first division title since 2010, but one former coach thinks they had the worst offseason in the entire NFL.
John Fox, who coached the Bears to three last-place finishes from 2015-2017, was asked on ESPN's NFL Live on Monday which team had the worst offseason. His choice was his former club.
"I think when you're going to play defense, you're going to lean on takeaways to help a young offense, and you don't have a kicker, a reliable kicker, that you're going to need those points from after some of those turnovers," Fox said, via the Chicago Sun-Times. "I think the kicking question is really big right now in Chicago. And I think that might be a problem for them in the season."
It's fine for Fox to have his own opinion on the Bears, even if others wholeheartedly disagree. After all, he's employed by a TV network to give his opinion. The ex-coach's reasoning is the interesting part.
Bears fans will point out that it was under Fox's watch that the team cut Robbie Gould, Chicago's all-time leader in points, before the 2016 season. It's true that Gould had struggled the previous couple seasons, but Fox and the rest of the brass weren't willing to give the veteran the benefit of the doubt. Since then the Bears' kicking situation has been a turnstile of calamity. This offseason Chicago has pined for Gould's return, to no avail.
In Fox's final season, Chicago employed three kickers, Connor Barth, Cairo Santos and Mike Nugent. Cody Parkey lasted just one year before the double-doink ultimately ended his struggles in Chicago. Now the Bears are down to two kickers, Eddy Piñeiro and Elliott Fry, as training camp approaches.
There are plenty of things to question about the Bears on this offseason, including losing defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, swapping in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix for Adrian Amos, how Mitchell Trubisky will improve in Year 2 under Matt Nagy, and, of course, the kicker conundrum. The former coach singling out the kicker situation is interesting, especially at a position that can be ironed out on the fly. Fox's comments will only help amplify the pressure that kicker will be under whenever the Bears ultimately land on a new booter.
