Watching Ben Johnson push the Chicago Bears into the playoffs must give Matt Nagy mixed emotions. The former head coach has enjoyed plenty of success since leaving the organization in 2022. He’s won two Super Bowls as an assistant back in Kansas City. Still, Nagy will always be haunted by how things went sideways in Chicago. Things started off so strong in 2018, winning the division and coming a missed kick away from a playoff victory. Nagy was Coach of the Year. Everyone felt the Bears finally had the leader they needed.

Three years later, he was out of a job, having failed to come close to the success of that first season. Plenty of reasons went into that. Losing Vic Fangio to a head coaching job was part of it. Another was alienating quarterback Mitch Trubisky, wide receiver Allen Robinson, and the offensive line. Nagy asks himself what he’d do differently if given another chance. He told this to Dan Pompei of The Athletic. His biggest mistake with the Bears was not having the courage to hire somebody willing to disagree with him.

Nagy enlisted her for a project she calls “Blind Spots.” Okmin interviewed nearly 50 people who had worked with Nagy, asking about his blind spots. She presented their assessments to him in a 45-page report without attribution.

As difficult as it was for him to take in, he found it enlightening.

Nagy knows now that if he becomes a head coach again, he will try to hire an assistant who will tell him when he’s off course, like he does with Reid. He didn’t have that in Chicago.

Matt Nagy took an all-too-familiar approach to staff building in Chicago.

Outside of Harry Hiestand as the offensive line coach, he focused on adding names who didn’t carry much credibility. They were either young or had been unemployed. Coaches like that wouldn’t dare raise a fuss because they want to keep their jobs. As a result, Nagy pretty much had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted. He even made it worse when he brought in Brad Childress, a good friend, as a senior assistant. Many believe Childress was the one who planted the idea in his head that Trubisky was a waste of time.

Being the impressionable guy he was, Matt Nagy took that advice and ran with it. The relationship between coach and quarterback fell apart, and so did the Bears. Nobody ever told the head coach he was leading the team off a cliff. This is where he and Johnson differ. The new Bears head coach intentionally went out of his way to hire assistants he didn’t know. He wanted competing points of view to help keep him honest. It is a significant reason why the team seems able to course-correct so quickly.

Sadly, Nagy didn’t learn that until it was too late.

Austin Booker never had a reputation for being a dirty player, going back to his college days. Sure, he played hard, but never with the kind of style that drew the anger of opponents. Yet one hit seems to have turned him into the football version of Darth Vader. It came in the rematch between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers when a tackle attempt by Booker saw him crash helmets with quarterback Jordan Love. The collision gave Love a concussion, knocking him out of the game.

Packer fans screamed it was intentional and called for Booker to get ejected. They feel it was a dirty hit and have been crying about it for over two weeks now.

One fan decided to take it a step further, though. He stated that Booker is no different from former Packers defensive end Charles Martin.

For those too young to know the name, Martin played three seasons in Green Bay from 1984 to 1986. He was an average player at best, but he developed a reputation as one of the league’s most notorious headhunters. His most infamous moment came when he picked up and bodyslammed quarterback Jim McMahon on the Soldier Field turf after a play, aggravating a shoulder injury that ruined his season.

Calling Austin Booker the same as Charles Martin is delusion of the highest order.

Martin was a dirty player long before he got to the NFL. He was known for hitting ball carriers late in high school. That reputation continued through college and into his pro career. Hell, the guy was literally cut by the Packers the next year because he got into a bar fight. He was the worst of the worst. Those who look closely at his uniform would’ve seen a towel on his waistband listing apparent jersey numbers. It was found out later that those were the numbers of specific Bears players he was tasked with trying to knock out of the game.

Putting Austin Booker in the same category as that clown is laughable. Was his hit on Love a penalty? Absolutely, and he was rightly fined for it. Yet to call it intentional is ridiculous. Every replay showed that Love tucked his body and lowered his head before contact, which led to the collision. It’s not like Booker came in high. If anything, it is telling that Green Bay fans are letting that play affect them so much. Maybe it is indicative of something deeper going on.

The Chicago Bears knew what they were doing when they drafted Colston Loveland 10th overall last April. Sure, history says every great quarterback needs a great wide receiver. However, recent history suggests that the best ones often have a great tight end. It started with Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates. Then it was Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. For the past several years, that torch was passed to Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Together, the two have won three Super Bowls and put up over 9,000 yards and 60 touchdowns. Could Loveland reach similar heights with Caleb Williams?

Former NFL quarterback Kurt Benkert thinks so. He was rewatching the tape from Chicago’s narrow loss in San Francisco and came away with a realization. The combination of Williams and Loveland is a nightmare for defenses to stop, and it’s only getting better. Based on its current trajectory, those two could enter Mahomes-Kelce territory in the near future. If so, that would position the Bears as a team that will challenge for a championship at some point.

Caleb Williams and Colston Loveland could be better.

There is one important factor Benkert didn’t touch on when making this comparison. Williams has the same arm talent Mahomes does. Loveland is the same caliber of pass-catcher and athlete as Kelce. You can make an easy case that Ben Johnson is on Andy Reid’s level as a play-caller. However, there is another layer to this. When Mahomes and Kelce played together for the first time, the tight end was already 29 years old. He’d been in the league for five seasons. The clock was already ticking.

Caleb Williams is 24 years old. Colston Loveland is 21. That means if the two stay healthy, they could play together for a decade or longer. Since week nine, Loveland has 37 catches for 506 yards and five touchdowns. Average that out to a full season and you get 955 yards and nine touchdowns—every year. That is a Hall of Fame-level pace. Chicago hasn’t seen something like that from a quarterback-tight end duo since Billy Wade and Mike Ditka. That only lasted four years, and it still won a championship. The Bears could be onto something special.

The Chicago Bears couldn’t quite keep their hopes for the #1 seed alive in that thrilling loss in San Francisco. Still, their playoff aspirations are far from dashed. They play the Detroit Lions on Sunday with a chance to still grab the #2 seed, which would guarantee at least two home games. Head coach Ben Johnson has stated the team aims to pursue that goal. He understands the value of playing at home in big games. The only question is, who will the Bears play? That issue has been narrowed down to three with the results of Monday night.

Here is how things currently stand.

If the Chicago Bears win or the Eagles lose on Sunday, they play the Green Bay Packers.

This is the clearest path of the three. Green Bay is locked into the 7th seed. That means they will play whoever the 2nd seed is. If the Bears beat the Lions at Soldier Field, they are the 2nd seed. If Philadelphia loses to Washington, the Bears are the 2nd seed. It would mean a third and decisive rematch between the two long-time rivals.

If the Bears lose on Sunday, they play the Rams or 49ers.

• Rams if 49ers clinch the #1 seed by beating Seattle
• 49ers if they lose to Seattle

The NFC West is a straight dogfight right now. Seattle and San Francisco battle for the #1 seed this weekend. If the Bears lose Sunday and Philadelphia wins (which they should), Chicago drops to the 3rd seed. That means they play the Rams or 49ers, who will be the 6th seed depending on the outcome of that game. Either the Bears get a shot at revenge for Sunday night in San Francisco, or they take on an old rival in Matthew Stafford.

The Chicago Bears face no easy path.

That is the nature of the playoffs. Every team is good. Green Bay beat them once this year and would’ve again if not for that epic comeback. San Francisco just hung 42 points on them last weekend. L.A. is as well-rounded a team as there is in the NFC despite some recent setbacks. Who would you rather play? There is no correct answer. The truth is, the Chicago Bears would’ve had to beat one of these teams to reach the Super Bowl anyway. If they want to prove they’re serious, it’s time to put up or shut up.

If we’re talking matchups, the most favorable is probably Green Bay, if for no other reason than the Bears know them well. You can prepare better for opponents you’ve seen several times. San Francisco and Los Angeles present issues. The 49ers’ offense was almost impossible to stop the first time, and they’ll have George Kittle back. The Rams have a dynamite pass rush that could give the Bears fits. It’s all about which team shows up.