The Bears will interview former Broncos coach John Fox, according to reports that surfaced Tuesday.
So without further ado, let’s brush up on what we know about the 59-year-old Fox.
1. Fox certainly paid his dues on the way to becoming a head coach. He started as a graduate assistant at San Diego State in 1978 and made 12 stops in 17 years before becoming defensive coordinator of the New York Giants in 1997. Here’s Fox’s resume: San Diego State (graduate assistant), U.S. International University (DB coach), Boise State (DB coach), Long Beach State (DB coach), Utah (DB coach), Kansas (DB coach), Iowa State (DB coach), Los Angeles Express (DB coach), Pittsburgh (DC), Pittsburgh Steelers (DB coach), San Diego Chargers (DB coach), Los Angeles Raiders (DC), St. Louis Rams (consultant), New York Giants (DC), Carolina Panthers (HC), Denver Broncos (HC).
2. Boise State won the I-AA title when Fox was serving as an assistant. Boise State trailed Eastern Kentucky 29-24 on fourth down with 10 seconds to play before scoring the game-winning touchdown.
3. Fox owns a 46-18 record with the Broncos and 119-89 overall record as an NFL head coach. The Broncos went 12-4 this season and 13-3 in each of the two previous seasons. They won the AFC West in each of his four years at the helm.
4. Fox has been to two Super Bowls and lost both times. His 2003 Panthers lost 32-29 to the New England Patriots after Adam Vinatieri’s last-second field goal. His 2013 Broncos, despite being favored by two points against the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII, were crushed 43-8. His playoff record with the Broncos (2-3) was ultimately his undoing.
5. Fox coached under late Pittsburgh legend Chuck Noll while with the Steelers from 1989-91. Noll is the only football coach to win four Super Bowls, and Fox is the last head coach in the NFL who remains from Noll’s final staff with the Steelers, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I think he’s the greatest guy I’ve ever been around,” Fox said of Noll. “He is very calm, very technique- and fundamental-oriented. He is not a screamer. He wasn’t up or down. I think his biggest thing is that he was the same guy every day. He was not an ego guy like, ‘Look what I’m doing.’ I thought he was a great mentor, I know that.”
“People say you are what you eat,” Fox said. “I think you are what you are around. I was very fortunate as a young coach in the NFL, first time in the NFL, to be around a guy like him. I think you become what you’ve been around and, in that case, I was very fortunate.”
6. Fox is one of three coaches in NFL history to inherit a one-win team (the 2002 Panthers) and take it to the playoffs two years later. The only others were Vince Lombardi and Bill Parcells. Source: Post-Gazette.
7. From 2002-09, the Panthers averaged 10 victories a year and were one of four teams never to have a double-digit loss. Source: Post-Gazette.
8. The Broncos hired Fox, in part, because his experience balanced the inexperience of executives John Elway and Brian Xanders. It’s a similar position that the Bears now find themselves in having just hired the youngest general manager in the league in 37-year-old Ryan Pace. Source: Denver Post.
