The rocky ending to 2019 just cements this season as a microcosm of the Chicago Bears as a franchise for the past decade. A year propped up by false promise from the prior campaign. A decade full of letdowns of varying types and degrees. Players opened Club Dub for one last time this year and decade. Fans are left to ponder what could have been.
Chicago Bears 2019 a Microcosm of the Decade
Bears Decade Recap
Chicago got a narrow victory over the Minnesota Vikings (backups) to finish the season at 8-8. It’s the third time the Bears have finished exactly .500 since 2010. Each one of those seasons followed one in which the Bears reached double-digit wins and this is the second time it followed a playoff berth.
No, Lovie Lost
The decade began as a success for the Bears. In 2010, four years removed from the heartbreaking loss in Super Bowl XLI, Chicago made it back to the postseason after an 11-5 regular season. The run would end on the lowest of notes, though; a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of their hated nemesis, the Green Bay Packers, in the NFC Championship game.
That team was headlined by names like Jay Cutler, Matt Forte and Brandon Marshall on offense. They had literal Hall of Famers in Brian Urlacher and Julius Peppers along with Bears legends Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman on defense. This may be the best singular display of the futility the decade has wrought upon the Monsters of the Midway.
Lovie Smith was the Bears coach that year and took the team to the playoffs more than any coach since Mike Ditka. Unfortunately, postseason appearances an average of once every three years was not enough for the upper-level decision-makers, especially if two of those appearances came at the start of a coach’s tenure.
Smith and the Bears ultimately parted ways following a 10-6 campaign in 2012 that saw Chicago finish third in the NFC North. That was just two years removed from that Conference Championship game. The Bears have one playoff appearance since; the Wild Card loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Emery Board
The Lovie era had run its course, sure. Fans were about as fed up with his facial expressions as they were with the offense struggling despite the star power. But Smith’s last year was also general manager Phil Emery’s first. After 11 years with Jerry Angelo at the helm, the last two of which began the decade, the Bears went with their former scout.
Emery was tasked with closing the gap between the Bears and the Packers. Injuries ultimately derailed the previous season and exposed a lack of depth on the roster. That got Marshall to Chicago in a deal that was viewed as a steal. It also led to the hiring of Marc Trestman, the only man who could make fans pine for a return of Smith.
Trestman was a career offensive coordinator in the NFL before heading to Canada and winning two Grey Cups (he won a third in 2017). He, like Emery, was brought in to revolutionize the Bears, particularly offensively. It was a reasonable charge; the Bears ranked above 14th in points scored once. That was the Super Bowl year in 2006 and they were 15th in yards.
Losing Urlacher with Smith, the Bears finished both seasons under Trestman ranked 30th or worse in points and yards allowed. But the collapse of the offense he was meant to revive doomed the coach who reportedly struggled to command a room. Chicago went from second in points and eighth in yards to 23rd and 21st and their record went from 8-8 to 11-5.
Changing Pace
The end of the Emery-Trestman era is aligning with the current one of Ryan Pace–Matt Nagy. Both times the general manager was hired to replenish a depleted roster. Both times the coaches were hired, mostly to fanfare, to bring the offense up to speed. Pace coming from the New Orleans Saints and Nagy coming from the Kansas City Chiefs had more success, though.
Of course, success brings higher expectations and, more importantly, a tougher schedule. The Bears proved to not be up to the challenge that brought. The defense succumbed to regression and injury, falling from first in points and third in yards to fourth and eighth, respectively. They also fell from first in takeaways to 22nd.
That slippage was somewhat expected but was supposed to be off-set by progression from the offense and, namely, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Even though they ranked a meager 21st in yards, they were ninth in points. Their average starting field position fell by about a yard, but is that reason enough for the offense falling off a cliff?
It’s easy, and generally accurate, to lay blame at Trubisky’s feet but the offensive line showed their true colors this year. Nagy also showed some rigidity that hindered the growth of his young passer and the offense. All of this, ultimately, falls on Pace. It will be up to him to pull his creation out of the mediocrity. Something synonymous with Chicago Bears football for the 34 years since Super Bowl XX.
2020 Vision
2018 was high to 2019’s low. But even the peak didn’t yield a championship. There is an inherent amount of luck involved with winning a championship in any sport. But several misfires and overvaluations have left this team in a tricky spot. They are invested in a quarterback that has failed to live up to their pre-draft assessment of him so far. But they also have other holes.
Any retooling begins with an earnest quarterback competition between Trubisky and an outsider. Be that a veteran free agent or a rookie. Additionally, they need to upgrade the offensive line to benefit both the passing and running games. Everything else is secondary. The Bears won’t get out of this cloud until they solve those two issues.
Angelo couldn’t, Emery didn’t, now Pace must; lest he suffer a similar fate. Three general managers, four head coaches, and three quarterbacks (an improvement). Bears fans have (sometimes not so) patiently waited for a return to prominence. Pace can’t let 2018 be a total fluke and waste another great Bears defense. We’ve seen that movie already.
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