LeGere: Fox likes to run ball, play good defense
While two more head-coaching jobs were filled Wednesday — 49ers and Raiders — former Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox spent the day interviewing for the Bears' job at Halas Hall.
Fox, who will be 60 next month, remains the favorite to become the Bears' 15th head coach in franchise history.
He has 13 years of experience as a head coach in the NFL — the past four with the Broncos and the nine before that with the Panthers.
The Bears are one of just three teams still searching for a head coach, along with the Atlanta Falcons and the Broncos. The New York Jets (Todd Bowles) and Buffalo Bills (Rex Ryan) have also hired new coaches since the end of the regular season.
Fox went 46-18 in Denver but couldn't win the Super Bowl that general manager John Elway required. He got the Broncos to the big game after the 2013 season and took the Panthers there 10 years earlier but lost both games. His Carolina teams were a combined 73-71.
Fox has a preference for stout defense and a strong run game, and his past performance says that he will put up with disruptive players provided they can produce on the field.
The shenanigans of Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall are nothing compared to what Fox dealt with in Carolina when he had wide receiver Steve Smith, who's now with the Ravens.
“He had the biggest head case of all in Steve Smith,” according to a Panthers source. “The guy attacked teammates three different times, and Fox kept him around. Fox ran off some other guys for lesser offenses. But Smith was so good that Fox put up with him.”
That philosophy paid off in a divisional playoff game after the 2005 season when Fox brought his Panthers team into Soldier Field and left with a 29-21 upset victory. Smith caught 12 passes for 218 yards and 2 touchdowns — 58 and 38 yards.
The Panthers' quarterback in that game, Jake Delhomme, completed 24 of 33 passes for 319 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 interception and a 120.6 passer rating.
Delhomme was released by the Panthers after the 2009 season, but he had nothing but good things to say about Fox on Wednesday on the Carmen & Jurko Show on ESPN 1000.
“When I think about John, the (words) that come to mind are, 'tough,' and 'honest,' ” Delhomme said. “He's brutally honest and, as a player, that's all you can ask for. He treated everyone in the organization with respect, and guys wanted to play for him.”
While Fox focused most of his attention on the defensive side of the ball, Delhomme said he still had a positive influence on him.
“While I was watching film, John would come in and explain that (as a defense), 'We're trying to make you too anxious,' ” Delhomme said. “ 'Take what they give us and you have a chance.' ”
Delhomme also spoke glowingly of Fox's ability to adapt to change and overcome adversity, which were best illustrated in the 2004 season, the year after Fox led the Panthers to their only Super Bowl.
The 2004 team was decimated by injuries and at the halfway mark was 1-7 with 14 players on injured reserve. They won six of their next seven but, needing a victory over the Saints to make the playoffs, fell 3 points short in the season finale to finish 7-9.
Delhomme credited Fox's flexibility with keeping the team afloat after injuries knocked out running backs DeShaun Foster and Stephen Davis, leaving Nick Goings as the starter.
“We were known as a running team, but we had to start chucking it around,” Delhomme said. “We lost everybody.”
So the 2004 season wound up as the most productive of Delhomme's 11-year career, as he established personal bests in pass attempts (533), completions (310), passing yards (3,886) and touchdowns (29).
Because of the running back injuries in 2004, the Panthers finished 28th in rushing yards, but in the six years after that they finished in the top half of the league four times, including third in 2008 and 2009.
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