Everyone, naturally, has his or her own opinion on what’s wrong with the Fire. Some blame a mysterious “mid-summer slump,” citing a similar run of poor form in June and July of last year. Others say the dressing room has been lost, and the players aren’t motivated and focused. Maybe the attacking players are unable to concentrate, knowing their futures are on the line for the impending McBride transaction. The one person who doesn’t seem to have a constructive idea for improving the team is, unfortunately, head coach, Denis Hamlet. The confounding part is that he used to.

From March through May, the Fire won 6 of its 9 regular-season games, losing only two, and drawing one. The subsequent six weeks, however, have seen a plummetous drop in form. The Fire have won no regular season games since thrashing New York 5-1 on May 25th. So what happened? The simple answer, and Hamlet’s company line, is that the team have simply not scored.

The defense, while leaking a few more goals per game than they had earlier in the season, has not really broken down to speak of; they have not yet let in more than two goals in any one game. The offense, however, has collectively netted a measly 4 goals in league play since the beginning of June. So…why?

In each of the games through the end of May, Hamlet fielded a team with two forwards, usually Chad Barrett and Tomasz Frankwoski, and an attack minded midfield. Since then, however, he has used Chad Barrett as the lone forward in a misbegotten 4-5-1 system. The former worked, the latter has not. In the first 9 regular season games, the Fire scored multiple goals in 5 games, including 5, 4, and 3 goal showings against Eastern Conference opposition. They were shut out only once, by Kansas City, on April 20th. In June and July, Chicago has been shut out 3 times, and managed only one multiple-goal game.

It’s relatively clear from basic statistical analysis that since assuming a lone-striker system, the offense has not been producing in volume. That’s not the entire story though, as the defense has begun to show signs of weakness as well. After racking up 5 shut outs in the first two months of play, the back line has begun to let goals slip by, and have managed only one shut out in 6 games. This also can be attributed to the abandonment of attacking tactics. Attack-minded teams often keep the opposition’s midfield pinned down in defense and unable to build up possession and movement toward their forwards. Ultimately, the defense supporting the aggressive team is faced with fewer challenges, and has less to do. There are fewer opportunities for goals, so fewer goals are allowed.

The question remains, though, of why Hamlett forsook the attack in the first place. At no point this season has he had fewer than three fit strikers at his disposal, so it could not have been a matter of manpower. Nor had there been much indication that teams were beginning to adjust to the Fire’s style of play. Each of the Fire’s two loses (1-0 to KC on April 20th and 2-1 to Houston on May 17th) were followed by impressive goal-heavy responses (2-1 v Colorado and 5-1 over NY respectively). There’s no readily understandable motivation for Hamlett’s tactical switch. Indeed, and more pressingly, there is no readily understandable motivation for its continuation.

Some fans are calling for Hamlett’s firing, but the masses are fickle and unwise. He was held in great esteem only a few weeks ago, after all. However, it's infuriating that he seems to have simply forgotten what worked so well earlier in the season. Only he knows whether it’s ignorance or intransigence holding him back but the longer it goes on the more damning it becomes.