Nagy pointed to the team across the field as the organization to be emulated. He drew attention to the discipline and execution of the saints.
To achieve this goal, the Bears will have to deal with several questions about the 2020 season. Why was a 5-1 start followed by a six-game losing streak? Why did the defense stay behind while the attack gained strength? Why did the team finish 1-7 against playoff teams and 3-8 to finish the season?
“We clearly went through some growing pains during that period, during that six-game skid, but we found out,” said striker Charles Leno Jr. “We showed some resistance and recovered, we found a way to do that in the playoffs. Things just they didn’t go out of our way. “
After the game, Leno made sure to tell each player in the locker room that he liked him. The seventh-year tackle can be comforted by its unit’s performance above expectations in the last six weeks of the season.
However, the attack only managed 140 yards against the Saints before a 99-yard mark in the final minutes when the game was out of reach.
“I think identity is an offense,” said Nagy, “you can see that we feel we have created an identity. But how do we learn from that? Well, part of that is that you see that in games like today, no matter what your identity, you always need to know how to run football. “
Nagy clarified that the attack did not need a performance of 150 yards from David Montgomery’s running back each game. Still, the racing game needed to be better to put the Bears in more manageable distance and fall situations.
Montgomery ended the day with 31 yards in 12 races.
Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky completed 19 of 29 passes for 199 yards and a touchdown. Although his future in Chicago was in doubt for much of the season, he said he could see himself coming back to take advantage of some of the progress at the end of the year.
“We’ll see,” said Trubisky. “There are a lot of things that need to happen and a lot of decisions that need to be made, and that is out of my control, but I can see [me returning]. “
The next few days and weeks will be filled with assessments from the coaching staff, with Nagy admitting that big decisions may be on the way.
“I just told the guys in the locker room that for us to improve,” said Nagy, “and being the team we need to be, this is something that we will do here in the off-season is to ensure that wherever there is a weakness, we make it a strength and this will take everyone. Today was not good enough. “
Bears’ defense also faces a crossroads. Since the dominant performance of 2018, the unit has regressed in several areas. Despite the large investment in the rush and secondary pass, Bears tied for 16th in sacks and 25th in forced spins.
Seven players who started eight or more defense games will be over 30 at the start of next season, including defensive tackle Akiem Hicks and linebackers Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn.
Hicks rejected the idea that the defense missed the opportunity to take the Bears to the Super Bowl.
“Whatever you think,” said Hicks, “everything you believe in and how you talk about yourself, all of that tends to be true. I tend to speak positively to myself and tend to believe that there is always another opportunity. I kind of forcing myself into a positive state. I don’t believe a window is closing. I don’t believe my opportunity is lost. “
Hicks said defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano used to say to players, “I am not the man I want to be, but I am better than the man I was today”. Hicks took the saying seriously.
“When it comes to windows,” said Hicks, “and when it comes to opportunities for this game, I realize where I am in my ninth year. But I also believe that I also have a lot of struggle in me. I also believe that better days will come. “