Matt Nagy has been on the job as head coach of the Bears for much of this year, but he’s yet to step up to deliver a message in front of his entire roster.
That will change on Tuesday when the Bears begin their offseason program. Nagy outlined two points of the message he plans to deliver, starting with getting players to “understand why it’s so important for them to put on the Bears uniform.” Nagy also wants to have a team that will thrive in the face of adversity and said he will point to the current Super Bowl champs as an example of what he’s trying to build in Chicago.
Nagy referenced injuries to quarterback Carson Wentz and others by saying the Eagles “had some down times” that they fought through by sticking together as the year unfolded.
“As we get into who we are as a team, I want them to understand there’s going to be ups and downs,” Nagy said, via the team’s website. “It’s going to be a roller coaster. You usually don’t go 16-0 and win every game and ride off into the sunset. When bad things happen, when adversity strikes, how do you react to that? The great teams will respond in the right way. They’ll have a bunch of leaders on the team that stick together, a bunch of coaches that stick together, that get through that, and they roll.”
The Bears have not advanced to the postseason since 2010 and last had a winning record in 2012, so it’s a long stretch of down times that Nagy will be working to undo when the players arrive on Tuesday.