Doesn't it feel mighty good to be a Bears fan right now?

LOL, you're right :-)

Sorry for being the debbie-downer guy last Fall.  Thanks for putting up with me here... I was in the depths of despair for sure.

Now you know how I felt at the end off the 2016 season when we DID keep Fox.

The eventual benefit however seems to be that Phillips and GMcC were finally shamed into giving up full control to Pace allowing him full reign and authority to hire his own HC and operate the team as he saw fit and yes, the turnaround has been nothing short of shocking.  I have never seen this team operate this efficiently.....ever.

It's almost like it's the early 80s again where I can see how current and previous drafts have finally begun to supply the core players this team can win big with again.  Trubisky is the key but unlike our more recent past we aren't asking him to elevate everyone else's play or carry the team on his back.  We're getting him the tools and OL he needs.

Add to that one of the best move of the offseason, retaining Fangio and his entire staff, and while this isn't the '85 Bears defense I see one who could easily match the 2006 version and once paired with an offense that's just as good can help win a whole lot of games eventually.

So yeah.  This finally looks like a team worthy of my support again.

The first round is on me!

I think I'm the last Fox loyalist here. By the end of last year I think it was clear he needed to go - losses are losses - BUT he played a valuable role here, the lightning rod. When he took on this team, we were in bad shape in terms of personnel and culture. He worked closely with a brand new GM to change that and to build a good foundation. I don't think we'll ever know the inner workings and how Fox positively influenced Pace but I think when you look at the selections made this year and where the team is currently at - all of the guys being high character players - I infer that Pace learned some important positive lessons from Fox. 

Even if Fox's only job was to absorb the fan negativity during a rebuild  so it wouldn't project onto Pace, he did it well. 

I think we all are influenced by our history and those that came before us and that our success or failure is dependent on previous generations (of coaches, of parents of co-workers, etc). Fox endured some tough years as a HC for the Bears. We as fans endured some tough years with Fox. We are in a better place right now. It's fine to forget how we got here, we'll correctly heap the praise on Pace and Nagy if the team succeeds this year but it wouldn't have been possible without those three tough rebuild years.