I Think It's Official Now..............

Perfect scenario.

• Fox is allowed back due to his reputation, experience and question marks due to injuries. 
• Pace gets another cycle to bolster the roster with talent.
• Fox gets another shot at showing he can get an improved roster to perform (maybe he does and the next items on the list are moot points). 
• Pace, assuming his draft this year and his FA acquisitions this year pan out, retains overall good standing with the org AND, in the event Fox starts to stumble, now has time to research and unanimous desire to replace Fox with a new HC. 
• Coaches, seeing the talent on the Bears, WANT to coach the team.
• In this event the new HC comes onto a team with much better talent (four cycles of Pace drafts and FA acquisitions) and is much better positioned to turn things around and be successful.

The word perfect was a mistake. I think it's a better scenario than the one you described for a few reasons

1. It demonstrates commitment by the front office in their coach of choice despite outside chatter. Fox could be a bust as a coach. His record this year indicates that but the last two years he's been plagued by injuries. Maybe that's, as riczaj01 suggests, a ploy to buy himself more time. I'm less into conspiracy theories. Even considering the value of the injuries, meaning how much impact the injured players affected the team, the Bears still rank (according to ESPN's Most Injured Teams ) #3. Last year they ranked #4. Regardless. It provides Fox another year to prove his value remembering that he signed a four year contract with the Bears, meaning he probably asserted his vision for progress as taking at least 3 years to implement. In fact, some (I would say many but don't want to over-generalize) said after the firing of Trestman that this team was at least 3 years away from being a playoff team. 

2. In the event Fox proves himself to be incapable of turning the team around, his three years with the Bears will supply the players on the team with some stability in terms of scheme and coaches (not head coach but positional coaches) which should aid in their development remembering that this team went from one of the oldest teams in the league (2 oldest team in 2014) to one of the youngest (10th youngest in 2016).  One of the biggest assets of a Fox regime is his connections in the league. He's well connected and is able to bring in good teachers to coach up the youth. Having Fox one more year will allow these young players to continue their development under the same coaches which should make them better players in the future REGARDLESS of coach. 

3. Fox's return means another year for Pace to build the team's foundation through the draft and FA. This is a talent deficient team. For any coach to be successful here OR for any coach to want to come here, there needs to be talent. Early indicators suggest Pace has been good at identifying talent in the draft and FA. That might not prove true in the long term, but based off the indicators we have, it does seem true or at least somewhat true. If Pace moved on from Fox this year and picked a new coach, that talent acquisition would continue BUT it would stain that coaches' first year with the team. Fox provides cover for another draft and FA cycle. Some fans are already disappointed with him so he can take the bullet of another poor year as the Bears build talent in the even the team is unsuccessful.

4. Assuming Fox fails, Pace can begin planning for his replacement with a mandate. Going into 2017, Pace will have a different view of Fox, he'll have a skeptic's view. In addition to that skeptical view, he will have the advantage of time to find a replacement knowing that if Fox doesn't get it done this year he will be gone. While he won't be able to interview candidates, he will be able to scout them or allocate resources to scout them and find a few candidates who are either up and comers OR who he aligns with. He also will have the ability to charm potential college converts (ALA Harbaugh) to come back to the NFL. Now that the team has more talent ALA another draft, coaches will be more likely to WANT to come to Chicago. Pace can find his man. 

5. The person Pace finds next will have a great chance of success because a strong foundation is in place both because of the talent on the team but also because of the scouting work Pace was able to do to find a good fit. 

I read that too.  Even The Logg is going to be back.  We don't control any of this so I'm not going to let it get me down. 

I am super curious to see what happens in 2017.  The fans are angry and want people fired.  The people here on this board are divided on how much of this season's failure was due to the injury factor alone.  Well.  Now we are going to find out.  None of us really knows for sure.  But in 2017 we will have our players healthy again and an infusion of new talent, with the same coaching staff.  There will be player changes too.  Some like AJ may not be back.

If this team fails then some can claim we got it right and knew it would happen.
If the team does well, then it will make Pace look like a genius.  And there will be a lot of crow eaten here.

Like I said, I'm not going to let this bother me.  I con't control it.  I will just pop up the popcorn and watch the show.  Hey, crazy things happen in the NFL.  It might just work.