Virginia McCaskey has seen a ton of unique, interesting, and memorable personalities come through the Chicago Bears organization over the years. Many of whom hold a special place in her heart because of the contributions they made to helping it win. She is not the type to throw around comparison easily, which makes one of her comments from the 100th anniversary celebration so noteworthy.
Inevitably the conversation about her long history with the Bears came around to her father, the great George Halas himself. She grew emotional about it at one point, showing how much she loved the man and misses him to this day. When the conversation shifted to the new Bears coach, Matt Nagy, the matriarch made a surprising concession.
In her mind, there is a lot of her father that she sees in the 41-year old. As Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune and others noted, that sort of praise is not offered to just anybody.
It’s that type of charisma McCaskey admires in Nagy. And it was striking Sunday to hear her praise the Bears’ current coach in comparison to Halas.
Yes, she acknowledged, it’s always stirring to see those gleeful photos of her dad celebrating one of the Bears’ championships. But the road to get there was often such an intense grind.
“All through the season,” she said, “it was very serious work and very concentrated situations. There are those pictures of him in the locker rooms after the various championships. And I love them. But our present-day coach has made each game and each week a possible celebration. And I think that is a very excellent difference.”
Virginia McCaskey isn’t wrong about the Matt Nagy comparison
Obviously McCaskey isn’t saying that Nagy is at the stature of her father. Very few men in history are. What she is getting at is Nagy conducts himself in many of the same ways that Halas did during all his years as a coach. He was forward-thinking, detailed, and ultra-competitive when it came to winning football games. What separated him from most coaches though?
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He let the players be themselves.
Many coaches back in his era were of the military variety. Strict disciplinarians who wanted their players to act like good soldiers. Halas? He demanded hard work from them, but allowed them to play their own way on Sundays. They could be aggressive, have fun, and not be afraid of punishment if they took certain liberties from time to time.
How else was he able to control noted personalities like Doug Atkins, Ed Sprinkle, and Dick Butkus? Nagy is much the same way. He demands accountability of his players, but tells them it’s okay to be themselves on the field. Work hard, play hard, and have fun. If they do that, good things tend to happen. It did for Halas. It already has for Nagy.
McCaskey may know what she’s talking about.
