Fox keeps narrow focus for Chicago Bears
Coach John Fox's messages to his Chicago Bears players, whether it's dealing with adversity or prosperity, have emphasized having a narrow focus so as to avoid distractions such as playoff talk.
"(It's) just keeping focus on being the same guy," Fox said, "not looking at the scoreboard, whether in the course of the game, or whether you won last week or lost last week. Just preparing.
"We have a slogan in there, 'You fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.' "
Although Fox guided both the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl, his teams didn't win either time.
"Unless you win that very last game - that's kind of the big one - you're not happy," Fox said. "And there's only one of those every year. So we're working to get to that point, and we'll see what this season brings, but that's kind of how our belief is.
"At the end of the day, you're trying to win that last game. I haven't done it yet, so I'm still working on it."
No snap decision:
The recent switch at long snapper from veteran Thomas Gafford, who played in each of the first 11 games, to first-year player Patrick Scales was a tough decision, according to coach John Fox.
"Those changes are never easy," Fox said. "Thomas Gafford did a lot of great things for us. He was a good man, the kind of guy (you want) in this building. (But) we struggled over the last three weeks a little bit in our consistency, in particular our short snaps. We had one go a little bit haywire in the Green Bay game.
"At the end of the day, all our decisions are based on what makes this team better."
Extra points:
Tight end Zach Miller has 4 TD catches in the past four games on just 12 receptions. Miller caught 2 passes for 10 yards against the Packers, establishing a single-season high with 222 receiving yards. In his five previous seasons, Miller had a total of 4 touchdowns, although he spent two of those seasons on injured reserve. …
Rookie Jeremy Langford's 1-yard touchdown run at Green Bay was his fourth straight game with a rushing score. He is the first Bears running back with a rushing TD in four straight games in the same season since Brad Muster in 1991 (Games 11-15). Langford leads the Bears with 6 rushing touchdowns and 7 total touchdowns.
Center of attention:
Center Cornelius Edison was signed to the practice squad to replace center Barrett Jones, who terminated his practice-squad contract so the Philadelphia Eagles could sign him to their 53-man roster.
Edison is an undrafted rookie out of Portland State. As a senior, he was named the Rimington Award winner as the top center in the nation. He started the last 35 games of his career at center or left guard.
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