Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears: Are Rebuild Expectations Too High?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Sep 25, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; Chicago Bears running back Jeremy Langford (33) can not make a catch in the first quarter against Dallas Cowboys safety Barry Church (42) at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

One can understand the expectations that the Chicago Bears would look better than the team that finished 2015. Yet for some reason it looks the same, or even worse.

There are some factors at play in why that is. Injuries for one. This 2016 teams has lost more key players in the first three weeks than almost any other team in the NFL. Jay Cutler, Pernell McPhee, Eddie Goldman, Danny Trevathan, Kyle Fuller, Lamarr Houston, and Jeremy Langford are all out. These are starters who were expected to be a central part of the teams’ success. Now they’re not playing and rebuilding teams don’t have the depth to compensate for such losses.

Then there is the coaching issue. Most people have pointed fingers in every direction including at head coach John Fox and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Granted, they haven’t made the greatest decisions at times with their roster and in-game moves but it’s clearer than ever that the central source of pain on that Bears staff is offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains.

The 36-year old has routinely failed to prepare his players each week. They’re making simple mistakes and lack any sort of rhythm. He of course makes it worse with predictable and unimaginative play calling. It’s hard to imagine things getting any better with Cutler out and Alshon Jeffery banged up on top of it. Some feel Loggains may not even last the season at his current rate.

Nobody likes excuses but it’s hard to win with such a list of obvious problems. Even for a veteran coach like John Fox. Then there is the matter of the roster itself. In just two off-seasons GM Ryan Pace has overturned almost every single position to where it’s almost unrecognizable. Once the oldest team in the league, the Bears are the 10th youngest now. While going young can lead to great things, it also comes with growing pains.

Team rebuilds in general are varied. That’s because not all of them go like it has for the Bears. Some involve a GM who was in place but the team hired a new coach to install new schemes. There is the opposite way where a head coach is kept but a new GM hired to reshape the roster. Chicago went with the clean slate approach, hiring both their new GM and head coach at the same time. Results for these rebuild styles don’t line up perfectly, but they do have a general time frame in common.

It typically takes a new regime three years to get tangible results from their efforts. Here is a rundown of some of the more successful head coaches in recent years and how they fair in their first three seasons on the job.

Seahawks: Pete Carroll

Packers: Mike McCarthy

Lions: Jim Schwartz

Rams: Dick Vermeil

Saints: Sean Payton

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Not every example is the same but the basic trend is. Even if a team makes the playoffs under the head coach their first year, it’s often via a wild card. Then the next year they revert back to their normal form, which is a team without much talent. By year three though the results are clear enough. Almost all of them have shown significant improvement. This is because the players they’ve drafted and schemes they’ve installed have been given ample time to mesh.

One has to remember it’s almost impossible to build a roster with star power overnight. That vaunted core of Brian Urlacher, Olin Kreutz, Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman began in 1998 and wasn’t in place until 2003. Those teams were painful to watch for a long time until the building process finally bore fruit. The difference this time is the Bears have a more proven coaching staff in place aside maybe from Dowell Loggains.

John Fox isn’t the greatest but he’s far superior to Dick Jauron. If the Bears are going to get this thing off the ground, then people must trust the process. Painful as it is to watch in real time.

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