Caldwell sent packing; Bears fire Fox
Jim Caldwell may have been the Detroit Lions’ most successful coach in the Super Bowl era.
That was not enough to save his job as he was fired on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears also gave John Fox the axe on New Year’s Day after three losing seasons, ending one of the least successful coaching stints in team history.
The Lions let Caldwell go after a season in which the team raised hopes before fading and missing the playoffs with a 9-7 record. They also fired offensive line coach Ron Prince, keeping the rest of the assistants under contract in case the next coach wants to retain any of them.
Lions owner Martha Firestone Ford called Caldwell “one of the finest leaders we’ve ever had as our head coach.”
“Not only did he guide us on the field to three winning seasons, but he also set a standard of excellence off the field that had a tremendous impact on everyone in our organization and our entire community,” Ford said in a statement.
Caldwell was 36-28 in four seasons and went 0-2 in two postseason games with the Lions. Including three years with the Indianapolis Colts, he is 62-50 and 2-4 in the playoffs with one Super Bowl appearance.
Lions general manager Bob Quinn said he wants a coach to take the team to the next level — postseason victories and championships. Quinn added that he fired Caldwell, in part, because he thought the team was capable of winning more than nine games in each of the last two seasons.
In Chicago, Fox’s dismissal came one day after the Bears lost at NFC North champion Minnesota to finish 5-11.
“Today is the tough part of our results-oriented business,” Fox said in a statement.
Chicago has had four consecutive losing seasons — each with 10 or more losses. The Bears haven’t finished above .500 since they let Lovie Smith go following a 10-6 finish in 2012. They haven’t been to the playoffs since 2010.
Fox was 14-34 in his three years with Chicago, a .292 winning percentage that ranks as the second lowest for the Bears. Only Abe Gibron was worse — 1130-1 (.274) from 1972-’74.
Fox is 133-123 in 16 seasons as a head coach and is one of six coaches to lead two teams to Super Bowl appearances, joining Don Shula, Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves, Dick Vermeil and Mike Holmgren.
Fox helped orchestrate quick turnarounds while leading Carolina and Denver to a combined six division titles and seven playoff appearances in 13 years before he took over Chicago in January 2015. But his time with the Bears was forgettable.
Hired shortly after the Bears brought in general manager Ryan Pace, Fox helped restore some of the professionalism that was missing under former GM Phil Emery and coach Marc Trestman. The progress in the locker room didn’t translate to victories.