For the third time in four seasons, Bears will hire a defensive coordinator.
Chuck Pagano will retire, according to several league sources. The longtime defensive coach and former Colts coach has led Bears’ defense for the past two seasons. It was ranked in the top 10 in both seasons by Football Outsiders’ DVOA metric.
Matt Nagy will sign, as he and GM Ryan Pace are due to return for the 2021 season.
The defense did not live up to expectations, however, given the star power on that side of the ball. After leading the league in 2018 under Vic Fangio with 36 takeaways, the Bears have combined 37 in Pagano’s two seasons. The pass rush also fell – after 50 sacks out of 18, the Bears registered 32 in 19 and 34 last season.
In the playoff loss to Santos, the defense had one of their best performances in relation to how they had played against the Lions, Packers and Vikings …