The Bears haven’t gotten the typical second-year bounce from coach John Fox, and are now employing an extra set of eyes to evaluate the direction of the franchise.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Bears have hired an outside consultant to begin a full evaluation of the football operation of the organization.
The Bears have slogged to a 1-6 start and dealt with numerous injuries along the way. But there are also questions beyond the temporal there, with a quarterback change seemingly inevitable the first of many issues to face.
The Bears used Ernie Accorsi as a consultant in 2014, when they hired Fox and General Manager Ryan Pace. And both those guys have plenty of contracts which they’d have to eat if they decided to change directions, as Fox has two years left on his deal and Pace three.
And according to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune, there was no indication either Fox or Pace knew about the consultant. The team did not comment on the report.
The Bears have failed to make the playoffs for five straight seasons, and this is probably going to be six without a miraculous turnaround. Fox has taken scuffling teams to the Super Bowl in both of his previous jobs (Carolina and Denver), making four- and five-win improvements in his second seasons there.
But after last year’s 6-10, that doesn’t seem to be coming in Chicago, and that’s causing the organization to wonder why.