Chicago Bears up for the challenge vs. Patriots
Sunday's home game against the New England Patriots, the NFL's premier franchise, offers the Chicago Bears an ideal opportunity to bounce back from a difficult loss.
It also can serve as a measuring stick for coach Matt Nagy's team.
"That's the exciting part for me as we all learn each other," Nagy said. "How are we going to respond? I've said it: 'We've had a lot of different situations for our young team,' and now here's another challenge, to battle back against a great team."
The Bears have only lost two of five games, but both defeats were crushers because they involved multiple wasted opportunities that could have reversed the outcome. So Nagy can borrow from the plan he used to resuscitate his team after the Week 1 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
"I'd say the biggest part was just the practice in general," Nagy said of the bounce-back effort five week ago. "I remember going back to the day after the game, and the guys were anxious to get to practice. They were rolling; flying around.
"Time went by and it got easier and easier. Right now, just from the pulse of the guys (Wednesday) morning and in team meetings, they're accepting how we, as a team, played (in the defeat). But they're mature and really listening to how we're going about this process."
After the loss at Green Bay, the Bears rebounded against a Seattle Seahawks team that was struggling.
Nagy's team faces a tougher test this week against a New England squad that, after an uneven start, has won three straight while scoring an average of 40 points per game.
It should help, at least for the Bears' offense, that last year the Kansas City Chiefs and then-offensive coordinator Nagy opened the season by whipping the Patriots 42-27, piling up 537 total yards, including 368 through the air.
Quarterback Alex Smith threw 4 touchdown passes without an interception for a 148.6 passer rating. The Bears might need to score 42 to win what could be a spectacular display of offensive fireworks at Soldier Field.
"Coach Nagy knows this opponent very well," Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky said. "He studies as much tape as anyone throughout the week, and he's had success against this team, so that definitely gives me confidence. He's given me a lot of confidence that we'll be able to move the ball and put up points against these guys this weekend."
Trubisky has played the best football of his short career the past two weeks, throwing 9 touchdown passes and just 1 interception, while completing 72.0 percent of his passes for 670 yards.
The Patriots and coach Bill Belichick are well known for their ability to take away what the opposing team does best on offense or to take away their most potent weapon. But that might not have as profound an effect on Nagy's offense, which prides itself on an even distribution of opportunities without a clear-cut go-to guy.
"For our offense, a benefit is that we have different guys who can do different things," Nagy said. "That's a philosophy we have as an offense. When you run into situations where someone could take somebody away, then it's on your other players to step up.
"That makes it easier for you as a playcaller. If they're going to take somebody away, then you go somewhere else. But you've got to (have other players) step up, if that's the case."
There's no better way for the Bears to prove their resilience than an upset of a perennial Super Bowl contender, and it would be a boost to begin a stretch that includes four home games in five weeks.
Nagy appears eager for the opportunity.
"We get a chance to come back home and to play in our own environment," he said. "(We're) looking forward to it. The nice thing is we have a nice balance of young guys but with some veterans who have played against them and seen them and done that. There's a great respect, but yet, let's go."
• Bob LeGere is a senior writer at Pro Football Weekly. Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere or @PFWeekly.