Doug Pederson and the Philadelphia Eagles created a winning blueprint. And not only will Matt Nagy and the Chicago Bears get a chance to follow the path set forth by Philly, they can take the first step on it by knocking off Pederson and the Eagles in the final game of Wild-Card Weekend.
“We keep following this path here,” Nagy said, via NBC Sports Chicago’s JJ Stankevitz. “So I told (Pederson) at the owners meetings this past offseason that he got that Super Bowl. I’m trying to follow his lead here. He probably doesn’t want to hear that right now. But I’m trying to stick on that path.”
Nagy is simply following a path to success that many other Andy Reid assistants have taken, with Pederson being the most successful. Nagy followed the Pederson blueprint by coaching quarterbacks under Pederson and Reid, moving into a role as offensive coordinator after Pederson left, and ultimately calling his own shots and running his own show in Chicago.
I suppose there is an old adage about the road less traveled, but it doesn’t apply here. And if you’re a Bears fan who has wanted the franchise to follow a winning formula that other teams have used, then rejoice because it’s finally happened. Sometimes, it’s OK to keep on a worn out path, so long as it’s paved with the bricks of success.
Game Info
No. 3 seed Chicago Bears (12-4, NFC North champions) vs. No. 6 seed Philadelphia Eagles (9-7, 2nd NFC East – 3:40 p.m. CT, NBC (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michelle Tafoya), WBBM-AM 780 and WCFS-FM 105.9 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote), Westwood Radio (Kevin Harlan, James Lofton, Laura Okmin)
Odds: Bears (-6), Over/Under 41.5, via the Westgate Superbook in Las Vegas.
Game Thread and Preview
Your game thread is down in the comments, so let’s have some good, clean (safe-for-work) fun during our first ever playoff game.
Coaches
Matt Nagy (12-4) vs. Doug Pederson (29-19)
Starting Quarterbacks
Bears: Mitch Trubisky: 3,223 yards, 24 TD, 12 INT, 66.6 completion pct., 95.4 rating
Last week at Vikings: 18-26, 163 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 85.9 rating
versus
Eagles: Nick Foles: 1,413 yards, 7 TD, 4 INT, 72.3 completion pct., 96.0 rating
Last game at Washington: 28-33, 221 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 102.1 rating
Bears Inactives:
Today's inactives for #DaBears:
11 Kevin White
64 Eric kush
69 Rashaad Coward
80 Trey Burton
83 Javon Wims
97 Nick Williams
99 Aaron Lynch#PHIvsCHI | #NFLPlayoffs— Chicago Bears (@BearsPR) January 6, 2019
Bears Expected Offensive Starters
Bears Expected Defensive Starters
Bears Specialists
Eagles Inactives:
#PHIvsCHI Inactives: LB Alexander, DT Hector, CB Jones, WR Wallace, G Pryor, G Warmack, QB Wentz
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 6, 2019