{"id":130283,"date":"2022-02-25T16:40:36","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T21:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=130283"},"modified":"2022-02-25T16:40:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T21:40:36","slug":"the-chicago-bears-had-better-hope-their-new-regime-is-better-than-the-last","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/02\/25\/the-chicago-bears-had-better-hope-their-new-regime-is-better-than-the-last\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chicago Bears Had Better Hope Their New Regime is Better Than The Last"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Chicago Bears may have moved on from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/executives\/PaceRy0.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Pace<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/coaches\/NagyMa0.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Nagy<\/a> in favor of Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus. But that doesn\u2019t mean this is the last they have heard or seen of the old regime either. Both have landed jobs elsewhere. Pace joined the Atlanta Falcons in a \u201csenior personnel executive\u201d role on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nagy went back to his old stomping grounds, returning to Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs as quarterbacks coach and senior assistant.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Old Chicago Bears Regime of Nagy, Pace Lands on Their Feet<\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perception vs Reality<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is some debate over whether either deserved their new role after their Bears tenures. But the real question will be, what if they are successful? If Poles and Eberflus are the match they have been billed to be, great. Especially if Pace and Nagy flame out. But if the old \u201cfootball guys\u201d outperform the new ones in a new location, look out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We\u2019ve already seen it with players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/F\/FloyLe00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Leonard Floyd<\/a>. He just won the Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams while notching 9.5 sacks after having 10.5 last season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bears got <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/01\/31\/the-chicago-bears-2021-season-awards\/\" target=\"_self\">a franchise record-breaking campaign<\/a> out of Robert Quinn so the shed tears are minimal. But the cost to get to this point was not small. It took draft capital used on Floyd to the actual dollars spent to acquire Quinn in free agency.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We might see it again with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/T\/TrubMi00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mitchell Trubisky<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Op4RmYSZNY\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/02\/16\/the-super-bowl-proved-there-are-multiple-avenues-to-a-chicago-bears-turnaround\/\" target=\"_self\">The Super Bowl Proved There Are Multiple Avenues to a Chicago Bears Turnaround<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;The Super Bowl Proved There Are Multiple Avenues to a Chicago Bears Turnaround&#8221; &#8212; Last Word on Pro Football\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2022\/02\/16\/the-super-bowl-proved-there-are-multiple-avenues-to-a-chicago-bears-turnaround\/embed\/#?secret=UFAygnRc5u#?secret=Op4RmYSZNY\" data-secret=\"Op4RmYSZNY\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is expected to receive a healthy amount of interest on the open market after rehabbing his image for a year backing up Josh Allen in Buffalo. All of the negative stories about Nagy\u2019s locker room decorum certainly haven\u2019t hurt either. Trubisky threw all of eight passes for 76 yards with zero touchdowns and one interception this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But he put on quite the performance against the Bears in the preseason. Trubisky carved them up for 221 passing yards and a touchdown in a 41-15 Bills win at Soldier Field.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/A\/AmosAd00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adrian Amos<\/a>, now with the Green Bay Packers, has been vocal on the matter too.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time and Place<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just because Pace and Nagy became the face of dysfunction for Bears fans doesn\u2019t mean the rest of the NFL sees them that way. This despite many in the media using them as a punchline. Especially after the comments of one Aaron Rodgers during a loss on October 17. The duo will now have a chance to show it was the setting that was the malfunction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That makes the \u201cwho deserves\u201d it argument somewhat relevant as one guy (Nagy) caught more flack on a regular basis while the other (Pace) probably got criticized on a grander scale as his decision to keep Nagy around backfired in real time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For Nagy, the move does put him in a more focused role and gets him closer to his roots. He held the same position from 2013-2016 before he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, it is an interesting hire for the Chiefs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given the questions about him when he left, their success since his departure, and his mismanagement of four quarterbacks including a top-three pick and a Super Bowl MVP, it\u2019s fair to wonder why they gave him that role again. We should remember that many accounts detail a Patrick Mahomes that looked much rougher, and worse, as a rookie than the one we see today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[pickup_prop id=&#8221;18297&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pace got a lot of credit for finding gems in the middle and late rounds of the NFL Draft. Perhaps too much considering he is the reason the Bears were regular shoppers in the bargain bin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the fact remains he left the Bears in better shape than when he left as far as the roster is concerned. The defense still has talent, especially in the front seven with Quinn, Khalil Mack, and Roquan Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They also have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/F\/FielJu00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Justin Fields<\/a>; a better starting point than any regime has had in recent memory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pace is reuniting with his former boss with the New Orleans Saints in Atlanta who could be in the market for a quarterback this draft cycle.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Controlling the Controllable<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, if the Bears win games, no fans are going to care what Nagy and Pace are doing either way. But you can bet the national media will be pointing to a larger issue at hand than just the rotating faces that have come in and out of Halas Hall since Lovie Smith got fired if they are struggling while the organizations employing those two have success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"TPNtuiZmQj9Or1MoPmuWQA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/925626058\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'TPNtuiZmQj9Or1MoPmuWQA',sig:'TT9rnrhUvtFtpK2s1t5tAmsS3ad16SrNhsy-q9mwUUE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'925626058',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Bears may have moved on but that doesn\u2019t mean this is the last they have heard or seen of the old regime either<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2879,"featured_media":130287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,23],"tags":[4434,7657,7544,6990,2703,3385,2265,2411],"class_list":["post-130283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-bears","tag-adrian-amos","tag-bears-featured","tag-chicago-bears-roster","tag-justin-fields","tag-leonard-floyd","tag-matt-nagy","tag-mitchell-trubisky","tag-ryan-pace"],"modified_by":"Josh Buckhalter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}