Former NFL quarterback had a great line regarding how coaches should think in regards to their season. He was referencing his former head coach Brian Billick and the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. After they had just made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, he immediately told them it was time to go to a Super Bowl. Dilfer applauded the statement, believing way too many coaches are focused on just making the playoffs and “seeing what happens.” It would appear Matt Nagy is cut more from Billicks’ mold.
Shortly after the season ended for the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on that windless night back in January, the head coach had to watch the rest of the postseason unfold without them. Week after week he saw the results and had to be thinking: we could beat any of those teams.
Especially the Los Angeles Rams who the Bears had beaten handily just a few weeks prior. This seemed to crystallize things for Nagy. In preparing his plans for 2019, he’s made sure to set the bar of expectation where it firmly belongs according to Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
“We talk about it,” Nagy said. “We don’t talk about making the playoffs. We talk about winning the Super Bowl.”
Matt Nagy understands the window is there and the Bears must seize it
If there’s one thing to say about Nagy? It’s clear he’s hungry. The man has never tasted championship success at any level in his football career. He went to Delaware in college and never won a Division II championship. In the Arena League he went to the championship game twice and lost both times. Since joining the NFL as an assistant coach, he’s made the playoffs five times and failed to reach even a conference championship.
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This is probably the best team he’s been a part of to this point in his entire football life. The Bears have the #1 defense in the league. Mitch Trubisky is ascending as a young quarterback with experience in the system growing. The offensive line is intact and the weapons more numerous than ever.
Nagy is a student of history. He understands that opportunities to go after a Super Bowl don’t come around too often. Not without a lot of things going right. This has to be a moment the Bears seize upon, and he’s not going to let them take it lightly. Thirty four years is long enough.
