Bears coach John Fox is the one guy who coached both the Panthers and the Broncos to Super Bowls.
But he didn’t win with either, and his last boss said that was why he was replaced by Gary Kubiak this offseason.
“This is why we made the decision,” Broncos General Manager John Elway said, via Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times. “This was the idea — to get better and get past the first round.
“We had a good regular season, but struggled in the first round. So the idea, the goal — what our owner wants — is to win a championship. That’s why the decision was made last year to go in a different direction. And Gary’s done a tremendous job.”
Fox got past the first round twice with the Broncos, one of them with Tim Tebow. But after getting blown out by the Seahawks in the Super Bowl two years ago and then losing at home to the Colts in their first one last year, the vibe around Denver changed and Elway reeled in his old backup.
“I think John did a great job when he as here — there’s no question,” Elway said. “He won four AFC West championships, so he did a tremendous job.
“It just got to the point where, . . . it was kind of like we talked about [after the change was made], it was a mutual parting of the ways. He decided that he wanted to go in a different direction and we said, ‘That’s fine, we’ll go in this direction, too.’ I think it worked out for both sides.”
Of course, mutual partings are rarely mutual. Fox had one with the Panthers after the 2010 season, when acrimony over the lack of a contract extension led to a bitter end, and a 2-14 record which led directly to Cam Newton and Ron Rivera.
So while Fox was and is a good coach, it’s reasonable to suggest both teams are OK with the guy they hired to replace him.