Don’t Expect New Bears Coach to Outfox Himself

January 20, 2015 @ admin → No Comments

Random thoughts (or a reasonable facsimile of such things) while wondering which Chicago team will have more victories in October — the Bears, the Cubs or the White Sox:

Model Stephy C is a Bears fan who always is welcome around here.

* Speaking of the Bears, they introduced new coach John Fox to the media on Monday at Halas Hall. Among his remarks: “I’ve always been of the thought of understate, overproduce. I’ve never predicted records. If I could do that, I’d be at a racetrack somewhere. I can just say that, in the past, we’ve made pretty good jumps. So we’re looking to do that. I can’t predict exactly how fast or when that will happen. I just believe it will.” In no small part because the Bears went 5-11 in 2014. Nothing like having your predecessor set the bar reasonably low. Not to mention providing so little fun in the team’s dysfunction.

* Speaking of Fox, he said the Bears will reach out to former linebacker Brian Urlacher whose feelings were hurt when the team didn’t offer him a contract worthy of what he thought he deserved the 2012 season (with the result being Urlacher retired). “I know Brian, and we are going to make things right with him,” Fox said. “I’m excited about meeting with him. Both [new Bears general] Ryan [Pace] and I are.” Isn’t that sweet? Fox needs to focus on players on the field (which he no doubt will do) and not worry about the egos of stars from seasons past. Making an uneducated guess (the only variety that you will find around here) that Urlacher won’t be happy till there’s new ownership and CEO Ted Phillips is gone.

* Oh, and Fox is going to reach out to former Bears coach Mike Ditka, too. Because. Someone ought to inform Fox about what Ditka thinks about people living in the past. Yeah, well, apparently with certain exceptions.

* If Fox wants to embrace successful Bears history, he ought to demand the team bring back the Honey Bears.

* Speaking of the Honey Bears (the team’s cheerleading group that was disbanded after Ditka’s 1985 squad won the franchise’s only Super Bowl), many of the lovely ladies will be part of a Feb. 27 Friday Night Fights card from Hitz Boxing. Well, the lovely ladies will be present but not expected to throw any punches. The event will be held at the Medinah Shriners Hall in Addison, Ill. Details are available at (630) 746-2488 or at www.ciaco.org. If things go as planned (which they occasionally do around here), we will be posting a poster for the event somewhere in this space today. Oh, here it is.

* Still speaking of the Bears, it’s unclear which is bigger news regarding tight end Martellus Bennett: that he has been added as a replacement for the Pro Bowl or that he and teammate Kyle Long have reconciled after a brief Twitter battle.

Video below of Morgan Shelly.

* Moving right along, the Cubs became a more likely National League Central challenger Monday. They traded third baseman Luis Valbuena and pitcher Dan Straily for center fielder Dexter Fowler.The Cubs have a legitimate leadoff hitter — not to mention an opening for highly touted third-base prospect Kris Bryant. And that’s not all. The Milwaukee Brewers traded pitcher Yovani Gallardo to Texas, as the Brewers look to shed salary. Seems like the Brewers are taking a step back financially with the likelihood that such a move will have them take a step (or more) back in the NL Central standings.

* Speaking of Bryant, the Cubs sill might leave him in the minor leagues for the start of the season. Doing so would be an indication they think they are a strong enough team without him. Or they want to maintain cost control of him for as long as they can. Or both. Something says new manager Joe Maddon would like to have a slugging third baseman for as many games as possible. Then again, you don’t maybe the Cubs don’t want to create too much ticket demand at Wrigley this season before the bleachers are ready to go.

* Speaking of dreaming about winning a championship, the Chicago Bulls lost 108-94 at Cleveland. They’ve lost six of their last eight. The team is doing so poorly lately that guard Derrick Rose uttered profanities in his postgame assessment. Other than being offensively and defensively challenged, there’s really nothing for the Bulls to be worried about. Oh, and their next game is Thursday at home against San Antonio. Maybe Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will rest his top three players. And the next three, too. Just to make it interesting.

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