BEARS TRYING TO FIND FOOTING
Pace says kicker competition between Fry, Pineiro is even — but winner might not be on roster yet
DECATUR — Matt Nagy’s reward for a monster first season coaching the Bears is that expectations are astronomical as training camp opens this week. They’ve shifted from seeing what the new guy can do to demanding a Super Bowl trip.
Nagy started sensing that late last season, when the Bears won nine of their last 10 games to earn their first division crown in nearly a decade. Players bought in more with each victory, and a fan base accustomed to heartbreak allowed itself to fall in love again.
‘‘The belief in who we are started cultivating,’’ Nagy told the crowd Sunday at a training-camp kickoff event at the Decatur Civic Center. ‘‘I believe it did, too, with the fans in the city. I think the belief started creeping in.
‘‘We got to a point where we won the NFC North, but that wasn’t good enough. We were still hungry. We wanted that trophy. It was a sour taste at the end, but I promise you we’re not stopping until we get it.’’
Nagy had plenty to add, but he couldn’t keep talking over the roar he had stirred up in the auditorium. It has been a long time since this much frenzy accompanied the start of a Bears season, which begins when players report Thursday to Bourbonnais.
Going 12-4 recalibrated the standards. Now, a good-but-not-great season in 2019 would be jarring.
Not that Nagy cares. Ever confident, he was at ease in a half-hour session with the media — even when getting peppered with kicker questions — and during what amounted to a pep rally afterward. He closed his time on stage with his signature ‘‘Boom!’’ celebration and walked off as the Bears’ fight song blared behind him.
The real work will feature far less pomp on the steaming practice fields at Olivet Nazarene University, and that’s the part Nagy can’t wait to start.
Even with the added pressure, he’s more comfortable heading into camp than he was as a first-year head coach last July. There’s greater familiarity, more credibility and stronger authority. All of it puts him on better footing.
‘‘The biggest thing is that I know all 90 of these players,’’ Nagy said. ‘‘As the year went on, I knew these guys’ backgrounds personally. And you let them know that you care about who they are as a person, and you build that relationship.’’ Then he smirked.
‘‘I really know the hot buttons on all of our players,’’ he said. ‘‘And they know mine, too.’’
Nagy’s most crucial relationship, of course, is with third-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky. General manager Ryan Pace has seen steady improvement from Trubisky and wants more of it after he threw 24 touchdown passes against 12 interceptions and posted a 95.4 passer rating last season.
Rather than teaching Trubisky the basics of his offense, like he did last summer, Nagy will be ‘‘building the library of plays’’ for him.
That doesn’t mean everything will get easier for Nagy. In addition to handling a new level of outside noise, good or bad, he has a new defensive coordinator and must navigate one of the most unconventional and difficult schedules in the NFL.
Vic Fangio, the mastermind of a defense that allowed fewer points than any team in the league last season, is now the coach of the Broncos. That’s an essential role to fill, given that Nagy’s focus is the offense, and he landed Chuck Pagano. That’s a good hire, but it’s still a transition.
Winning the division came with the prize of what is projected to be the NFL’s fifth-hardest slate of opponents. The Bears also have a quick turnaround going into a Thursday opener against the Packers, several weeks with non-Sunday games and prime-time kickoffs, plus a taxing trip overseas.
‘‘You have to be able to adjust,’’ Nagy said. ‘‘You don’t use it as an excuse. You just keep going.’’