Former Bears Coach John Fox Is Back in Football

The hiring of Matt Eberflus has brought a handful of Indianapolis Colts players and coaches to Chicago in the past couple of months. But now, an old friend of the Bears is heading the other direction with the Colts naming former Bears head coach John Fox as a senior defensive assistant this morning.

Fox has spent the past few years working in the media, including a stop at ESPN as part of their NFL Live team. Fox spent three largely unsuccessful seasons as the head coach of the Chicago Bears before Matt Nagy was hired ahead of the 2018 season and brings 16 years of head coaching experience to Indianapolis with stops in Carolina, Denver, and Chicago. Fox comes to the table with another 16 years as a defensive coach with the Steelers, Chargers, Raiders, Rams, and Giants.

The Colts named Gus Bradley as their new defensive coordinator after Frank Reich lost Eberflus to the Chicago Bears. Fox’s offenses in Chicago were a disaster, but he did an excellent job rebuilding their defense after Marc Trestman left the unit in shambles post-2014.

Working with Vic Fangio, Fox led the Bears’ defense from 20th in the NFL in scoring defense (24.8 opponent points per game) in his first season in 2015 to 9th in the NFL in scoring defense (20.0 opponent points per game) in his final season in Chicago in 2017.

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Patrick grew up in Chicago's Bridgeport and Garfield Ridge neighborhoods before moving to the Western Suburbs of Chicago before eventually relocating to the Las Vegas area with his family in 2023. He started with Bleacher Nation in 2021 and has spent time as a Staff Writer and on the Chicago Blackhawks beat. He is currently a writer and editor at Bleacher Nation covering the Chicago Bears and the NFL at large and the author of the Bleacher Nation Newsletter. Patrick is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA).

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