As John Fox moves on to Chicago, he leaves nothing but affection for his four years as head coach of the Broncos.

Fox went 46-18 with four AFC West Division titles and four playoff appearances. He is now head coach of the Chicago Bears after he and the team reached an agreement on a four-year contract Friday.

Fox was reached by phone Friday afternoon as he and his new boss, Ryan Pace, were in the United Airlines lounge at the Denver International Airport, waiting for their flight to Chicago.

“I can tell you I’m really excited about the new opportunity,” Fox said. “And yet it was a real enjoyable four years in Denver. I’m not comparing, but one of the most appealing things about this job is I’ve been in places like this before, Pittsburgh and New York. Old guard teams, old guard ownership. Family owned, like the Denver Broncos. Great tradition, like the Broncos. Sports towns. Great fan bases.”

Fox’s new deal with the Bears assured the Broncos they will not have to lose a dollar of the $11 million he had left on his contract in Denver.

Still, it’s not often a team coming off three consecutive years of 13-3, 13-3 and 12-4 records is looking for a new coach. Yet, that is what’s happened to the Broncos after they lost their playoff opener, 24-13, to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Fox and general manager John Elway met on Monday and mutually agreed to part ways.

“Trust me I didn’t design it to go that way,” Fox said. “You ask anybody in that building how hard I worked. It was a mutual parting. We hugged each other. To me nothing’s changed from what was said Monday.”

At a news conference Tuesday, Elway explained the mutual separation as he and Fox disagreeing on “how to get to the next level.”

“I’m not going to comment on that,” Fox said.

That Fox found employment so fast in Chicago may raise eyebrows in Denver. On the morning of the Broncos’ second-round playoff game last Sunday against Indianapolis, Fox Sports reporter Jay Glazer, a close friend of Fox’s, speculated that if the Broncos lost to the Colts, Fox might become available and would immediately go to the top of many team’s head coach candidates’ list.

He clearly went to the top of the Bears’ list.

His connections with the Bears were both through Ernie Accorsi and the New Orleans Saints. When Elway got his first chance to run the Broncos’ football operations in January 2011, he said the person who mentored him most about his new job was Accorsi, a former GM of the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns and New York Giants.

Elway’s first coaching hire? Fox, who was Accorsi’s defensive coordinator from 1997-2001. During that same period, Sean Payton was the Giants’ offensive coordinator. And Glazer was a New York TV reporter who covered the Giants.

Payton became the Saints’ head coach in 2006. Three weeks ago, the Bears fired general manager Phil Emery and head coach Marc Trestman and hired Accorsi to serve as a consultant for their new GM and coach search. The Bears hired Pace as their general manager last week. Pace had risen through the Saints’ front office ranks until he became their director of player of player personnel.

When the Bears interviewed Fox on Wednesday, people wondered if he already had the job lined up in case the Broncos lost.

“That’s not true,” Fox said. “I didn’t have any jobs lined up. I didn’t know I wasn’t going to have one, other than I heard from plenty of places (that I might be let go). There were no guarantees. I didn’t have any guarantees. Look, it was mutual. We both agreed to part ways.”

Indeed, connections make the world go round. It’s not reserved to the NFL. This is the second time Accorsi has mentored a new GM through a head coaching search and wound up hiring Fox.

Connections aside, Fox does seem to be a good fit for the Bears who need to rebuild their defense and get quarterback Jay Cutler to be more productive than controversial.

Fox has the type of down-to-earth, folksy personality that usually appeals to players.

Fox said he would not be going to next week’s Senior Bowl event because there was too much work to do at the Bears’ offices, most notably in hiring his new staff.

Dennis Allen, Jim Schwartz and Mike Smith are candidates to become his defensive coordinator. Adam Gase, Fox’s offensive coordinator the past two years in Denver, is under consideration for the same role with the Bears. But there are other candidates, too.

“Look, I have nothing but good things to say about my four years in Denver,” Fox said. “We did mutually separate. And I’m excited about my opportunity with the Chicago Bears.”