It is impossible to not notice the turnaround the Chicago Bears had this past season from the years prior.
That is, if you’re a football fan.
If you’re a football fan and you had no idea how special it was, it seems fair to question your favorite cartoon character. It has to be Patrick from SpongeBob right? Because you have been living under a rock.
Fans didn’t know what to make of the Matt Nagy hire a little over a year ago on Jan. 8. Not many of them knew much about Nagy. The only thing some knew was that he was part of a long list of coaches under the Andy Reid coaching tree and he was young.
It wouldn’t take long for the fans to learn who the real Matt Nagy was.
From his first press conference alone, he basically said more than John Fox did in an entire coaching tenure. The way he has handled the media and fielded questions since has been terrific and is such a breath of fresh air compared to the steaming pile of dog crap stench that was left behind from the previous two Bears head coaches.
From 2013 to 2017, Marc Trestman and John Fox combined for a 27-53 record, leading the Bears to four straight dead-last NFC North finishes. There were locker room fights, inept offensive and defensive play, and terrible game management decisions.
Not to mention, in Fox’s final year as head coach, he threw a challenge flag in a game against the Packers when Benny Cunningham stretched for a touchdown but was originally ruled out of bounds. Sure, John Fox won the challenge. But the overturned ruling would result in a fumble thru the end zone. Instead of it being 1st and goal from the 2-yard line, it was an automatic turnover. If that doesn’t sum up a tremendously abysmal era of Bears football, then what does?
Fast forward to the end of the 2018-19 season. With the help of Ryan Pace bringing in some serious talent like Khalil Mack and drafting some budding stars, Nagy led the Bears to a 12-4 record and their first NFC North title since 2010. Although it didn’t end the way they wanted it to, losing in the first round of the playoffs, many still looked at the season as wildly successful. Although people had confidence in the future of the Chicago Bears, not many people expected this team to compete as soon as they did.
The turnaround led to Nagy being named the Associated Press Coach of the Year at NFL Honors on Feb. 2. It was a landslide victory as Nagy received 24 votes. The second place finisher, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn, received 10 votes.
His acceptance speech mirrored his image of selflessness and humble demeanor. “This represents all of us. You know, we always talk about it, being a ‘me’ award. This is a ‘we’ award. This is about all of us together: our team, our organization, our coaches, our support staff, the entire organization,” Nagy said.
He went on to thank his players for “obsessing to be the best” and for just being themselves and letting their personalities show.
“Be you” became a mantra throughout the season. As did Nagy’s post-game win speeches, followed by him and the rest of the team yelling “BA-BOOM,” and the entire locker room joining in a party that became known as #ClubDub.
As the Bears continued to obsess to be the best, the wins kept piling up. All of these mantras only further excited everyone with an attachment to the Bears. The amount of fun that was being had was evident and wore off on fans, as they repeatedly played their club dub videos after Bears wins.
The on-field fun was evident as well. Winning is always fun. But the style in which they won, and even in which they lost, made every game a blast.
There was that time when offensive lineman Bradley Sowell caught a touchdown pass on a play they named “Santa’s Sleigh.”
Defensive lineman Akiem Hicks scored a rushing touchdown.
Running back Tarik Cohen threw for a touchdown.
All of these different examples gave off the feeling that anyone at any given time can get the ball or make the play.
The biggest question mark for the Bears as a franchise has always been the quarterback position. And while there are still question marks, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky made great strides this past year. He improved his passer rating from 77.5 in his rookie season to 95.4 in 2018. He also saw an increase in completion percentage and a big increase in touchdowns. A lot of that improvement can be credited to Nagy and the relationship between coach and quarterback, which seems to be strong.
Bears fans have been down this road before. They’ve seen coaches come in and have some success, but not be able to sustain it. Matt Nagy has proven to have the leadership qualities it takes to be a good head coach in the National Football League. If reports are true, this season was only the first installment of a very deep playbook from Nagy. With him implementing more of his material and teaching a still-very-raw Trubisky even more, the sky is the limit.
As long as Swaggy Nagy is at the helm, the future is bright for the Bears.
