That's very interesting to hear because John Fox never struck as the kind of coach who didn't rip into his team when it was called for with the Panthers or Giants. That's the kind of thing I'd love to hear his true thinking on, because I do respect him quite a bit and think of him as Dinosaur-lite, which is why I'm happy for the bears to have him if they secure lil Shanny and Fangio or Allen as his co-ordinators. I'm curious whether that situtation was a case of Fox not doing what needed to be done, or Elway overstepping because he's so focused on getting Peyton another SB with the Broncos.
As for my bears optimism...it doesn't hurt that I think that Cutler is a much better QB than much of the city of chicago. But this place has never had a high end QB, at least not in the SB era. The punky QB had that pretty good two years when they won the SB, but that's literally the best QB performance the franchise has ever seen, so people around here don't know how to react to a QB who's genuinely got talent and isn't a Cade McNown caliber ******* or as mentally inept as Sexy Rexy, aka the Rex Cannon. Then you look at the talent Cutler was surrounded with his first seasons in chicago, alongside the extreme abuse he's received from the fanbase, and the quality of their "coaching" in that time; and it's obvious to see why his time in Chicago has generally been a failure, or at the very least a disappointment, and why it looks likely his bears days are at an end.
At this point they probably can't just reset the clock with him and the finally-non-mediocre-to-awful talent and coaching they're on the brink of assembling, but if that situation was salvageable this bears team could do some exceptional things on offense. The defense will suck until they add quite a bit of talent, but either Allen or Fangio would make it suck less and give them a nice starting point to build around as long as the new management does well bringing in talent.
At least if he leaves the Bills have a good chance of being in the mix, with the new ownership, dat defense, Rex coming in to make that group even more amazing, and Brady's pats being far from their best, a big move for a QB like Jay would seem to be the final touch for them, especially cause it would let them sit EJ Manuel for a few seasons and develop him, as there was talent there, if it hasn't been ruined. I would be really happy for that town and the teams' fans to take the AFC East and have a real shot at a SB. Rex working with that defensive talent is a scary enough proposition, but letting Cutler feed Watkins with Spiller around would give them an offense that could put up boatloads of points in a hurry. They won't be able to afford it for long, but that's why you hope you haven't ruined EJ Manuel yet, assuming Jay doesn't blossom with them, like Kelly did, and force them to sacrifice some of the defense or Spiller to keep him.
