Chicago Bears Parallels to the 2017 Rams Have Entered Spooky Territory

The Chicago Bears Los Angeles Rams connections began back in January. It was believed that GM Ryan Pace was hoping to use a similar model the NFC West team had in order to rapidly turn his own around quickly into a winner. That meant one overarching plan: building the foundation around his young quarterback. That meant a clear agenda. Overhaul the coaching staff. Spend and draft aggressively to acquire as much top talent as possible and don't be afraid of making a bold trade if the opportunity comes up. Month after month the plan unfolded. Pace made lots of moves, all of them in an effort to follow the blueprint. It was rather impressive how closely he stuck to it. After a while people sort of forgot about that. With the 2018 season concluded now, it offers time to take a look back. The results? Almost shockingly similar.

Chicago Bears Los Angeles Rams both had massive turnarounds

The Rams were a hollowed out wreck in 2016, going 6-10. After so many years of 7-9 finished and feeling so close to finally breaking through, they went backward instead. So in 2017 they decided to blow up the coaching staff, brought in a young offensive-minded head coach in Sean McVay. Overhauled key parts of the roster and established a more aggressive mindset. The team came out strong from the start and completed their season at 10-6. The Bears had finished 5-11 in 2017. Their offense was going nowhere and the team was stuck in the mud. Head coach John Fox seemed out of fresh ideas. So the team brought in Matt Nagy, a young offensive mind. They upgraded the offensive firepower and added two big defensive pieces in Khalil Mack and Roquan Smith. A few months later they were NFC North champions at 12-4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGLHG5zEafQ

Ended long playoff drought

Prior to their trip into the wild card round last year, the Rams had not experienced a playoff game since 2004. They'd gone 11 seasons without a postseason participant in that time. Not since the end of the "Greatest Show on Turf" era. For the Bears, one had to look back to 2010 for their last playoff trip. The waning days of the Lovie Smith and Brian Urlacher timeline. Eight long seasons it took for them to get back after that.

Big 2nd-year jump from the quarterback

Jared Goff looked like anything but a #1 overall pick during his rookie year, completing just 54.6% of his passes for 1,089 yards, five touchdowns, and seven interceptions. Under McVay's direction, he pulled a complete 180 with 3,804 yards, 28 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2017. Mitch Trubisky followed a similar path. After 2,193 yards, seven touchdowns, and seven interceptions as a rookie in 12 games, he racked up 3,223 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions with Nagy's help. This gave him the highest single-season passer rating (95.4) a Bears quarterback has ever had who started at least 12 games in a season. [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Trubisky-Drops-Multiple-Dimes-Finds-Robinson-on-Huge-TD-Drive.mp4"][/video]

Lost to the reigning NFC champion in first round of playoffs

This is where it gets a little bit freaky. The Rams went into the wild card round with plenty of momentum last year. However, they ran into the defending conference champion Atlanta Falcons who had won three of their last four games. Many still felt L.A. had the edge being at home but the Falcons quickly seized control and never looked back, winning 26-13. Fast forward exactly one year. The Bears go into the wild card round. They're at home. They play against the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. Result? The same. A painful loss only this one was considerably closer. Now look how things have played out. The Rams went 13-3 in 2018 are claimed a first round bye. Given how closely the Bears have followed the model. Stalker-like close it seems. One should believe they have bigger aspirations in 2019.