Chicago Bears' Fox disappointed with loss

Given another day to assess the damage, coach John Fox sounded even more displeased with the Chicago Bears' play in Sunday's 38-17 loss to the Vikings, which he called their worst performance of the current three-game losing streak.

Making the slump more frustrating is that it came on the heels of the Bears' best game of the season, the 17-13 Thanksgiving victory over the Packers in Green Bay.

"It's disappointing," Fox said. "I think it's disappointing probably to our fans. I know it is to us in this building, whether you're a player or a coach or administrator. I think that was probably one of our better performances, that Green Bay game.

"We've had three games since. We had opportunities. (Sunday) was probably our poorest performance of those three games."

While the expectations of fans might have been elevated after the victory over the Packers, which gave the Bears a 5-6 record, Fox says his initial impression of the roster isn't much different than it was at the outset.

"I came there thinking there was a lot of work to be done," he said, "and that hasn't changed much."

At 5-9, the Bears have yet to surpass last year's win total, and there are plenty of excuses and more than enough blame to go around. Ill-timed penalties and slow starts are recurring themes, ones in which almost everyone has played a role.

"I'm not good at the blame game," Fox said. "To me, it's all of us. It's coaching, it's playing, it's executing. Ultimately, we're all in it together. I would say I'm disappointed in our record and leave it at that, because that's what we're measured on."

If anyone is immune from blame, it might be Willie Young, whose sack streak reached five games when he dropped Minnesota's Teddy Bridgewater on Sunday. After getting just 1 sack in the first nine games, as he battled back from last December's torn Achilles tendon, Young has 5½ in the last five games for a team-best 6½. He also led the Bears in sacks last season with 10.

"Right now, it's not about my individual performance," Young said. "Right now, it's about trying to be a leader to this defense and figure out ways to help us get better."

Avoiding stupid penalties would be a start. Bears defenders were penalized four times for being offside against the Vikings, Lamarr Houston twice and Will Sutton and Jarvis Jenkins once.

Those penalties wiped out four big plays, including 2 tackles for 1-yard losses by linebacker John Timu, Houston's sack of Bridgewater and Mitch Unrein's tackle for a 1-yard loss.

A stricter adherence to the tenets Fox constantly preaches could make a difference, especially when it comes to penalties. The Bears lead the league with 33 offensive holding penalties.

"These four words always ring true in my brain," Fox said, "and that starts from me down: 'Focus, intensity, preparation and the mental toughness to create all those things on a consistent basis.'

"We're not there yet. Having that ability to change your fortunes and finish a little bit better, that's something we haven't been consistent at."

The Bears' tackling was embarrassing at times against the Vikings, but Fox considers that more of an aberration than a weekly problem, at least for now.

"I don't know that it's been a major problem for us - say a seasonal problem," Fox said. "We're not in pads as much (at practice).

"There are a lot of things you can accomplish just in your body positioning and your angles that you don't really need some of the (padded) hard-hitting practice to do it. Not many people are doing that. It's more mental, more mindset; back to those four words I was talking about."

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