John Fox believes brighter days are ahead for the Chicago Bears, who failed to win more than six games in any of his three years as head coach.
"I do think it's closer than people think. We inherited a mess ... but I felt we were on the brink at the end," Fox, who was fired at the end of the season, told John Mullin of NBC Sports. "I think that (Halas Hall) building is definitely different; they feel it. I do think that it was a positive."
The Bears notched just five victories in 2017, and have been spinning their wheels for a while. They went 5-11 under Marc Trestman in 2014, the year before Fox was brought in to steer Chicago through a rebuild, and haven't posted a winning season since 2012.
There may be excitement, but the Bears still have a long way to go if they're to get back into contention in the NFC. Their tallest offseason task will be increasing the talent level around quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, the second overall pick in last year's draft, who struggled to develop a rapport with the crop of receivers he was handed.
Chicago will select eighth in the 2018 NFL Draft.
