Tipping points come unexpectedly. The overriding sense in the wake of the Bears’ 48-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, beyond specifics of the game, is that coach John Fox and staff will be riveted on what they see in their players after the kind of loss that produced unravelings last season that are a large part of why Fox and not Marc Trestman is head coach of the Chicago Bears.
The 2014 team crumbled in the wake of maulings like Sunday’s. Any repeat of anything smelling vaguely of that will be the end of someone’s time in Chicago, one coach told CSNChicago.com.
And Fox did not sound like he was universally sold on what he had on this roster.
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“Almost everybody in [the locker room] is classified as a professional,” Fox said after the game. “And that’s what professional do: They don’t worry about morale. We get paid to win.”
"Almost everybody?"
As the 2014 Bears demonstrated, losing doesn’t build character; it reveals it.
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“If anyone does have a loss of confidence, they better change their mind right now,” said linebacker Shea McClellin. “No matter the score, we keep grinding. It’s way different than last year. And I think everyone’s mind is that way.”
Fox will not be reticent about jettisoning players perceived as being part of the slump rather than just suffering one.
“If we don’t believe it, then we might as well go and wrap it up. We HAVE to do it. We HAVE to do it. This is what we get paid to do. We’ve got to find ways to get wins. We let our team down and our fans down.”
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Best guess is that Fox will not indulge too many letdowns. If any. Losing a starting quarterback, if that is what has happened to Jay Cutler, doesn’t matter.
“It’s all a challenge,” Fox said. “Been there, done that. We were a [Denver] team that started 0-4 and then won 11 of our next 12. This isn’t a prediction [regarding the 2015 Bears].
“[But] we’ll find guys that want to do it and can do it, and we’ll move forward.”