The Chicago Bears haven’t been the same since firing Lovie Smith who went 10-6 in his final season with the Chicago Bears during the 2012 season. Lovie Smith was the head coach from the Chicago Bears from 2004-2012 going 81-63 in the regular season and 3-3 in the playoffs. His best season was in 2006 when the Bears went 13-3 but unfortunately lost Super Bowl 41 to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 29-17. Lovie Smith was 3-3 in the playoffs and I thought was the Bears best HC since Mike Ditka but they haven’t been the same since. After the 2011 season the Bears fired there GM Jerry Angelo who was with the Bears from 2001-11 and during the 2012 season Lovie Smith had to work with a new GM in Phil Emery. Bears did go 10-6 in Lovie’s final season but they missed the playoffs. Lovie Smith only made the playoffs 3 times out of 9 seasons in the NFL as the Bears head coach and that doesn’t get the job done in the NFL.
For the 2013 season new Bears GM Phil Emery hired former CFL Head Coach Marc Trestman as the Bears new head coach as the downfall for the Chicago Bears began. Trestman went 8-8 in his first season as the Bears were second in the NFL in scoring offense but once again missed the playoffs as Aaron Rodgers and the Packers broke the Bears hearts with a last second touchdown pass in week 17 to eliminate the Bears from going to the Playoffs as the Packers won the NFC North again. I really thought the Bears would take the next step and be a playoff team for the 2014 season but unfortunately it all came crashing down as the Bears finished a woeful 5-11 which was last place in the NFC North. Bears offense was horrible and the defense was as bad. Phil Emery made 3 huge mistakes as the Bears GM, first firing Lovie Smith after a 10-6 season where the Bears had just missed the playoffs, two giving Jay Cutler that ridiculous contract extension with all that money and third hiring Marc Trestman over Bruce Arinas who really wanted the Bears job as the Bears screwed it up big time. Both Trestman and Emery were fired over a disastrous season of 5-11 in 2014.
In 2o15 cleaning up from the Marc Trestman and Phil Emery mess the Bears have hired Ryan Pace who has been with the New Orleans Saints organization for many years as the teams next general manager. He hired former Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos head coach John Fox as the Bears next head coach who was known for turning around both the Panthers and Broncos but that wasn’t the case as the Bears head coaching going 14-34 finishing in last place in the NFC North as he was fired after the 2017 season. Speaking of 2017 Ryan Pace made a very bold move to trade up for North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky who had only full season of college football where the Bears instead of could of drafted Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson or Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes, big oops. Trubisky wasn’t all that bad but he was too inconsistent with his footwork, accuracy among other things.
The Bears in 2018 hired former Chiefs offensive coordinator/quarterback coach Matt Nagy as the teams next head coach and in 2018 it was off to a great start. Bears won the NFC North going 12-4 led by a steady offense and a stingy defense. The Bears made a huge trade before the season getting Khalil Mack from the Oakland Raiders and boy did he make the Bears back to being the Monsters of the Midway. The Bears 2018 season ended in heartbreak as Mitch Trubisky drove his team in position for a game winning field against the Philadelphia Eagles but Cody Parker double doinked a field goal as the Bears lost 16-15 in the Wildcard game to the Eagles. The Bears for the next two seasons went 8-8 as the offense has struggled big time while the defense hasn’t been the same since the magical 2018 season. Bears did make the playoffs during the 2020 season as the 7th seed in the NFC Playoffs as each conference added one more team from 6 to 7 beginning for the 2020 season. Bears lost 21-9 in the Wildcard Round to the New Orleans Saints as expected.
Right now in 2021 the Bears are currently at 4-10 with 3 games to go. Ryan Pace made a huge trade up for Ohio State Quarterback Justin Fields. Fields at times has looked good and other times has played like a rookie. I remember in the Bears week 3 game against the Browns in Cleveland that Justin Fields got totally killed getting sacked 9 times. Matt Nagy has not been a good play caller and he has tried to get his rookie quarterback killed during this painful season for the Bears. Matt Nagy didn’t want to do adjust to Mitch Trubisky and his strengths and I don’t see that for Justin Fields either. Matt Nagy hasn’t developed Justin Fields at all which has gotten him under more scrutiny.
Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace have both been on the hot seat pretty much since the 2020 season. Ryan Pace has struck out with guys like Trubisky and Mike Glennon at quarterback while also whiffing on John Fox and now Matt Nagy even though he found some hits in both free agency and the draft. The Bears ownership led by George McCaskey really needs to make house cleaning changes starting with longtime President and CEO Ted Phillips who has been really bad at his job since 1999 needs to move to the business side of operations and the Bears really need to bring in a real football person to get the Bears back to respectability. George McCaskey needs to do a better job as well send a strong message about changes coming. I think both Nagy and Pace will be fired at the end of this current season but we shall see what happens. Bears haven’t been the same since firing Lovie Smith.