Chicago Bears second-year cornerback Kyle Fuller shot out of the gate like a bolt of lightening at the beginning of his rookie season. Then, it all went to heck about a month later.
Speaking with members of the media about this phenomenon, the Bears defensive coordinator Vic Vangio came up with a strange comparison between Fuller and PGA golfer Tiger Woods.
“I think ultimately it’s playing with confidence,” Fangio said of Fuller (via ESPN). “Tiger Woods these past two years hasn’t been the Tiger Woods we know and everybody’s over-analyzing him. The fact is that he hasn’t been able to take his game from the range to the course and he’s not been playing with confidence.
“Kyle’s got to be able to take his game from the practice field to the game field and play with confidence. You’re not going to have confidence until you do good things. You can’t just say that I’m whoever and go out and play and have results.”
Football and golf are on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum as far as sports go, but whatever works for Vangio to get his point across about Fuller needs to be said.
Fuller started out his rookie season like dynamite recording a league-leading three interceptions, 22 tackles and two forced fumbles last September. It was enough to earn him Defensive Rookie of the Month honors that month. After that, he couldn’t keep up the pace and just got blasted Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions last Thanksgiving.
Fuller’s performances were so bad that Pro Football Focus (subscription required) gave him a -2.6 or worse rating in four of his five last games in 2014. Thus far in the 2015 season, he ranks 93rd out of 97 in cornerback ratings, per PFF.
The bottom line is that Fuller must improve by transferring the positives from the practice field to the playing field in live game action. And perhaps if Fuller is a golf fan he needs to stop watching Woods, because apparently he is a bad influence.