Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2017 18:10:48 GMT -6
John Fox avoids supporting Dowell Loggains the same way he avoids winning games
Steve RosenbloomContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
Link: www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosenblog/ct-spt-bears-john-fox-dowell-loggains-support-rosenbloom-20171206-story.html
Bears head coach John Fox had a chance on Monday to endorse offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains.
Instead, Fox avoided supporting him the way he avoids wins.
When asked to assess Loggains’ job after the Bears managed a measly 147 yards in a loss to the defensively embarrassing 49ers, Fox globalized his gobbledygook. He wasn’t going to touch the subject of his handpicked playcaller with a 10-yard marker.
“Anytime you kind of bring in new quarterbacks, again, we all have to answer to that, and we’re all big boys and we all get it,’’ Fox said. “I’d have liked to have been more productive offensively, but the reality is we’re kind of where we are.
“Playing a lot of young players, in particularly at quarterback, I’ve seen improvement in him, and that’s kind of what I look for is are we getting better.’’
Fox sounds confused. His sentences are tortured. But you can’t find an outright endorsement of Loggains in there. You can only find excuses that the youth on the roster is the reason the Bears rank last in yards per game.
The youth of the offensive coordinator seems like an unfortunately accurate reason, too.
Can someone explain calling stretch plays for Jordan Howard when he’s a straight-ahead hammer of a running back?
Can someone explain why all the slants and quick throws disappeared?
Ditto rollouts and bootlegs that play to rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s legs and accuracy.
Loggains’ scripted plays, the 15 or 20 selected during the week that are run on the first two drives, usually look smart and sharp and unpredictable. That’s good.
Problem is, those plays always look better than the ones Loggains is forced to call for the game playing out in front of him.
Pro tip: Opponents, even those as lame as the 49ers, easily figure out the run-run-pass sequence when an offensive coordinator goes run-run-pass every stinkin’ drive.
The inability to perform well on game day, a failure to coach the game that’s there on any given Sunday, seems to be a Fox hallmark and apparently a requirement for his assistants.
Fox’s smothering, defensive presence is a factor in the offensive constipation. Trubisky indicated as much three losses ago, saying he knows Loggains “trusts me a lot with just how far I’ve progressed and what coach Fox is allowing us to do on offense.’’
The key part is “what coach Fox is allowing us to do on offense,’’ which apparently isn’t much and certainly hasn’t been good enough or smart enough.
Fox underscored the point Monday when he said Trubisky played “arguably his best game’’ against the 49ers. To review, Trubisky was 12 of 15 for 102 yards and a TD. Those should be halftime stats, not numbers a credible head coach in a clear passing league should be caught arguing for.
Two seasons ago, remember, Fox bristled when asked if Adam Gase took the Bears offense to Miami when the man who preceded Loggains as offensive coordinator became head coach of the Dolphins. It’s the Bears offense, Fox snapped. It’s not any single person’s offense, he made clear.
OK. Fine. Just as long as Fox and Loggains take the whole incomprehensible thing with them when their plane boards after this season.
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