Nagy never lost faith Bears would make playoffs

[Staley Da Bear]

So on Jan. 3rd at 7 p.m., the Bears (8-8) were able to fill out their dance card—just as Nagy had anticipated they would all along—with the NFC South champion New Orleans Saints (12-4). The Super Wild Card Weekend game is scheduled to kick off at 3:40 p.m. Sunday.


"We weren't sure if it was going to be 4-0 or if it was going to be 3-1, but here we are and we're able to play the Saints," Nagy said. "I want our guys to understand that and feel that. These players, they earned it. The last four games of the year, to be where we were at after those six [consecutive losses] wasn't easy, but they fought. And that's a credit to them, that's a credit to our coaches."


The Bears became the third team since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 to make the playoffs despite a six-game losing streak, joining the 1970 Bengals and 2014 Panthers. And although they lost to the Packers, Bears players aren't going to apologize for "backing in" to the postseason.


"They understand that they earned it," said Nagy, who has guided the Bears to the playoffs twice in three seasons as coach. "They worked hard.


"No one's going to take that away from these players. They've invested a lot. Unless you're in that building and you understand what they do in these meetings, you understand what they do in practice, you understand what they put out there on game day, they earned these last four weeks.


"No, [an 8-8 record] is not perfect. We understand that. It's not perfect. We have a lot of things to get better at, but we can't worry about that. Now what we need to do is worry about everything we can to be the best team that we can on Sunday against the Saints."


Even though their 8-8 regular season was far from perfect, there are 18 NFL non-playoff clubs who would love to be in the Bears' dance shoes.


"There are a lot of other teams right now who are trying to figure out their flights home today and where they're going, and we're not," Nagy said. "I think that's again something we're going to build off of and we're proud of. But we're not satisfied."


After reviewing tape of the Packers loss with his assistants Monday, Nagy is eager to begin preparing for Sunday's playoff game.


"I'm excited to get with these guys [Tuesday] on our Zoom call," said the Bears coach, "and really just get a good flow with them in regards to here's where the Saints are at, where they've been at, where we're at, and put this Packers game behind us because now it's a new season."