Chicago Bears: 3 Big takeaways from Preseason Week 4

This is a closer team than we’ve seen in a while

Watching this team during the final game something hit me — these players are really close. I know it’s just the preseason so everyone is happy-go-lucky, but there is something different about this crop of Bears.

Last week, coach Nagy caused an uproar with football purists by not playing his starters in the customary way. The third game of the preseason is the dress rehearsal and the starters usually play a half or some time into the third quarter. Some people reacted as if the season was on the brink if the starters didn’t play.

What I noticed was that the players were 100 percent behind Nagy’s decision. There wasn’t anyone there moping about not getting enough reps. What I saw was the starters jumping up and down and celebrating when their backups did well. They looked like a college team celebrating (and I mean that in the best possible way).

When you become a professional, you sometimes tend to get cynical. I saw that a lot in the Bears over the last six seasons or so. There were players who just wanted to cash their checks and not win. Even with Bears greats. Lance Briggs himself talked about tuning out the coaches and at the end of his career, he was more interested in his restaurants than winning games.

Let’s not get started on Jay Cutler. His aloofness is something writers can talk about for hours on end.

This team is different. Maybe it’s due to the overhaul of the roster. This team is definitely a lot younger than the previous editions of the Bears. When you’re young you’re more exuberant. What I think the difference with this season as compared to others is the coach.

Even though Nagy is a first-time coach, he doesn’t act like one. He took control of this team as soon as general manager Ryan Pace hired him. There is no doubt who runs this team. I think that postgame press conference was incredible. He took responsibility for the decision, saying that while the coaches talked about it, he was the one who made the decision.

Nagy did not back down from his decision. When a handler announced that there would be just one more question when Nagy was in the middle of a gauntlet of questions, he waved him off and said he was good and would answer any and all questions. That is a refreshing departure from the John Fox days when getting him to give out basic information was like pulling teeth.

These players look like they’d run through walls for Nagy. He got them to buy into his ways early and now they’re ready to show Chicago and the rest of the NFL that the Chicago Bears are back.