There’s an AFC West flavor to the next Chargers matchup that’s apparent to new Bolts linebacker Joe Mays.

Chicago Bears coach John Fox is an ex-Chargers rival who steered Denver to the AFC West title the last four years.

And it’s no surprise to Mays, who played under Fox, that Chargers coach Mike McCoy worked under Fox for nine years.

“They’re similar; they’re players coaches,” Mays said Thursday.


Mays didn’t join the Chargers until last week, but he said the atmosphere at Chargers Park recalls his time at Dove Valley, home to the Broncos, because of how McCoy does his job.

“Coach Fox would give us every single piece of information we needed and then he would just let us play and the players loved him,” Mays said.

“Coach McCoy does the same thing. He prepares you and then he trusts you to play, and the players here love him.”

The Chargers’ coach confirmed that Fox’s fingerprints are evident at Chargers Park.


“I could go on and on and on about him,” said McCoy, who is 17 years younger than Fox, 60. “Really, a lot of things we do here are the things that I’ve learned and carry over from the days with him.”

Twice in their careers, Fox inherited McCoy as an offensive aide.

Both times he chose to keep him on staff.

They went to the Super Bowl 12 years ago with the Carolina Panthers. With the Broncos, they made the playoffs twice in two tries.


“He’s a tremendous coach,” Fox said of McCoy this week.

Going into Monday Night’s game, the Chargers (2-6) are in last place in the AFC West. They’d gone 18-14 in McCoy’s first two seasons here.

Fox, citing turnarounds with the Panthers and Broncos, said McCoy knows how to respond when the bottom has fallen out.

“You just keep grinding,” he said. “They lost some close games, just like we have. He knows the drill. It’s never easy. This is a tough game, played and coached by tough people.”


One Fox behavior McCoy has applied at Chargers Park is to try to connect with nearly everyone on the campus, not just players and coaches.

“It’s important to know everybody and let them know how important their jobs are, and what they do on a day to day basis,” he said.

As with McCoy, the year 2015 has brought Fox several challenges as well.

The Broncos parted with him in January after the team’s fourth consecutive playoff trip ended in a fourth loss.


Fox, who replaced the deposed Marc Trestman in Chicago and installed two new coordinators, began his Bears tenure with three straight defeats.

The Bears will take a 2-5 record into Qualcomm Stadium.

Despite the poor start, McCoy said it’s clear to him that Fox, is putting his stamp on the Bears to the better.

“I just know, if you watch their football team, (you’ll see the Bears) play the way John Fox wants them to play – the effort, the energy, the way they approach every weekend, regardless of the score, regardless of the game,” McCoy said. “There’s a certain way he plays this game. And I think that’s exactly what he’s doing there.”


Friend or not, McCoy could a use a victory over Fox on Monday night.

The last thing McCoy would want, for instance, is for Fox’s Bears to reprise Fox’s Broncos’ win on Monday night in San Diego in 2012.

Down 24-7 at halftime, Denver won going away. The Bolts’ meltdown helped to cost Chargers coach Norv Turner his job.

And for all the love between Fox and MCoy, the two coaches haven‘t chatted of late. They’ve been plotting how to defeat the other’s team.


“It’s not like we’re sitting, eating bon bons, and waiting to get a chance to visit with buddies and stuff,” said Fox, laughing. “They keep us busy.”