Almost nine full months have passed since the Chicago Bears capped off an embarrassing season with a 23-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, earning themselves a pitiful record of five wins and eleven losses. The Bears, however, have made incredible off-season moves that will hopefully translate to an overall improved season.

One of the boldest moves the organization made was firing head coach John Fox. Fox finished his three year run as head coach with a total record of 14 wins and 34 losses, the second lowest win percentage in franchise history. The franchise decided to part ways with Fox and hire new head coach Matt Nagy. Nagy had previously coached for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, working under legendary coach Andy Reid for both teams. When the head coaching job for Chicago became available, Nagy jumped on the opportunity right away.

“He’s great with people. He knows when to crank it up and get after them, at the same time he’ll have a good feel when to pat them on the back,” Reid said in an interview about Nagy. “He’ll fit in really well in Chicago. I understand the atmosphere in Chicago. Even though it’s a big city it has a blue collar feel to it. He’s got that Pennsylvania grit to him. He’s not afraid to let his personality show.”

What’s incredible about Nagy is that he was previously a quarterback coach, and a quarterback himself. With his addition to the coaching staff, he has been using his knowledge of the position to work with young QB Mitchell Trubisky to overall improve his abilities and hopefully get him better adapted to playing in the NFL.

West Bears fans are ecstatic about Nagy taking over as head coach and cannot wait to see what he can pull off.

“All I know is that John Fox was a pretty awful coach and didn’t really improve anything,” junior Jake Shimanski said. “From what I’ve read and seen, Nagy seems to be a pretty solid guy and obviously has lots of experience. I can honestly see him leading the Bears to a positive record this year.”

The Bears had also added multiple key players to their lineups that could be game-changers. For the defense, the Bears drafted Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith in the first round of the draft. The Bears also recently acquired veteran linebacker Khalil Mack off of the Oakland Raiders. With the Bears acquisition of these two players, the defense is looking much stronger.

West Bears fans are super excited about the new defensive additions and believe that the Bears will begin to be more of a defense-heavy franchise.

“Mack and Smith are going to bring back the defense that the Bears used to be known for,” senior Adnan Perazic said. “I feel like these past few years we’ve turned more towards an offensive team, which is fine, but everyone knows it’s the defense that wins games.”

Another addition to the Bears is WR Allen Robinson. Previously playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Robinson had nearly 900 receiving yards over 73 receptions in the 2016-17 season, making him the most frequently targeted receiver on the team; however, he tore his ACL in the first game of the 2017-18 season, putting him on the sidelines for the rest of the season.

Even though Robinson had a bad injury, senior Austin Kessem is excited for Robinson to be on the depth chart for the Bears.

“I actually picked up Robinson in Fantasy Football last year when he tore his ACL. I was super angry because I knew how good he was the year before,” Kessem said. “If his injury doesn’t hold him back this year, and Trubisky does his job, I think the offense is going to look a whole lot better. I’m excited.”

The Bears kick-off their first regular season game on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 7:20 P.M. at Lambeau Field to take on their rivals, the Green Bay Packers.