Misbehaving Cox Has No Bearing on the Outcome

Bryan Cox lost his composure, angered his teammates and then quit as captain. Imagine what would have happened if the Chicago Bears had lost.

The Bears (2-10) finally won a game on their home field on Sunday, defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 13-7, with a tough running from Raymont Harris (116 yards and a touchdown) and a defense that gave up only 35 yards rushing.

“I don’t want to go out for the coin toss. I don’t want to have to look at the officials,” Cox said in quitting as captain. “I’m frustrated. To me this is like a loss. When you’re the captain you’re supposed to be able to talk to the officials. At this point, that’s when I get into trouble.”

The Bears led, 13-0, but unraveled momentarily in the third quarter when Cox got a roughing penalty against Trent Dilfer and safety Marty Carter was called for roughing Warrick Dunn.

Dilfer then connected with Reidel Anthony for a 12-yard pass play that resulted in the only touchdown for the Buccaneers (8-4), who fell out of a tie for the NFC Central lead. Cox kept yelling at officials after the extra point and got an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty.

When he came off the field, teammate Todd Burger began pointing and screaming at Cox, teammate Marlon Forbes was animated in his disgust and Coach Dave Wannstedt delivered a lecture to the linebacker.

Burger, who had jumped all over teammate Tyrone Hughes three weeks ago for bad judgment on punt returns, said his outburst against Cox was “no big deal. He probably didn’t even hear me.”

The victory was the 600th Bear history.