Meaningless game? Fox, Bears have plenty to prove in final month

It seemed like a frustratingly meaningless, hollow victory when the Bears closed the 2000 season by beating the Lions 23-20 at the Pontiac Silverdome on Christmas Eve.

A week after a dreadful 17-0 loss to the 49ers in which Cade McNown and the offense never crossed midfield, the Bears closed out a 5-11 season under Dick Jauron with a spirited effort that knocked the Lions out of the playoffs.

It was an impressive performance with all sorts of big plays that playoff teams make, as the Bears overcame an early 10-0 deficit to beat a playoff contender on the road — rookie linebacker Brian Urlacher had one of five sacks and two tackles-for-loss; R.W. McQuarters not only returned an interception 61 yards for a touchdown, but his strip-sack of Lions quarterback Stoney Case in the final minute led to McNown’s fourth-and-one pass to James Allen that set up Paul Edinger’s game-winning 54-yard field goal at the horn.

But it was as frustrating for Bears fans as it was glorious for Bears players — they picked a fine time to look like a playoff team.

Still, Jauron celebrated the effort.

“It was a great way to end a long year, a very long year,” Jauron said. “This team has a lot of character, and I’ve said their character will show up in the future.”

That seemed like a weak rationalization of a bad season, but as it turned out, the Bears proved Jauron right. The Bears — arguably parlaying the momentum from that 2000 finale — responded in 2001 with a surprisingly stellar season, going 13-3 to win the NFC Central and make the playoffs for the first time in six seasons.

It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. In Jay Cutler’s first season with the Bears in 2009, the Bears were 5-9 and eliminated from the playoffs when they finished with two impressive victories — beating the playoff-bound Vikings and Brett Favre 36-30 in overtime and the Lions 37-23 in the season finale at Ford Field. Cutler threw eight touchdowns and one interception in the two games.

Like the 200o finale, it seemed like too little, too late. But it was a harbinger of things to come. The Bears opened the 2010 season with three victories, finished 11-5 to win the NFC North and reached the NFC Championship Game — the closest they’ve come to the Super Bowl since playing in Super Bowl XLV after the 2006 season.

That’s why players and coaches never believe there is such a thing as a meaningless game. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any — it’s unlikely that even a 50-0 rout of the Vikings in the 2014 finale (which actually was a 13-9 loss) could have saved Marc Trestman and general manager Phil Emery. But the context is completely different this season. Despite not even coming close to the playoffs and losing Alshon Jeffery, Kevin White, Danny Trevathan, Zach Miller and Jay Cutler to season-ending injuries, this team still has a chance to finish with the arrow pointing up — the bare-minimum measurement of progress in John Fox’s second season.

That’s Fox’s hope as he navigates uncharted territory — as he noted Friday, this is the first time in his 15 years as an NFL head coach he has had back-to-back losing seasons.

“That’s never easy,” Fox said. “That’s never easy on coaches. It’s never easy on players. It’s never easy on the fans. It’s never easy on the writers. I’d like to believe at some point when we do win — and I think it’s soon, that it’s a lot more fun for you guys as well.

“But it’s just what it is. And we’ve got four games remaining — three of those being division games, the other one being a conference game. All those remaining opponents have something to play for and we’d like to be the spoiler even if it’s just creating momentum for next season.”

Fox’s reputation could use the boost. He arrived with a history of quick fixes in Carolina and Denver, but the Bears job has proven a little more of a rebuild — a factor he has alluded to more often in recent weeks. Is he just a year behind schedule or is he in over his head? Year 3 will tell the tale, but the final month of Year 2 can still give us at least a little indication of which direction the Bears are headed under John Fox.