GREEN BAY, Wis. _ Something happened to Bears coach Matt Nagy on his way to becoming the darling of the NFL and a phenomenon in a football city.
Aaron Rodgers happened.
Every Bears coach since Lovie Smith can relate to the agony Nagy endured Sunday night as he walked off Lambeau Field after a stunning 24-23 loss to the Packers that hurt even worse given the way the game started.
With a bum left knee and legendary right arm, Rodgers led the Packers back from a 20-0 deficit in the final 19 minutes to show why the franchise guaranteed the quarterback $100 million in a contract extension last month. Rodgers returned after injuring his knee in the second quarter to complete 17 of 22 passes for 273 yards in the second half, the dagger coming on a 75-yard touchdown to Randall Cobb with 2 minutes, 13 seconds remaining.
"This is a rip-your-heart-out kind of night in Green Bay, Wisconsin," WBBM-AM play-by-play announcer Jeff Joniak said as the Packers ran out the clock.
This will test Nagy's resolve early in his tenure and tell much about the leadership in the locker room. This is a negative the Bears must turn into a positive if things really are different under Nagy. This pain felt familiar to Bears fans, but somehow even worse by the time it was over.
This was the last thing anybody expected after the Bears looked like a playoff team in the first 30 minutes.
On the Bears' first offensive snap, a trio of running backs lined up behind quarterback Mitch Trubisky parallel to the line of scrimmage. Nagy channeled his inner George Halas in his first game on the same sideline Papa Bear once walked, opening an exciting new era with a nod to the past by lining his offense up in the T Formation.
Then, like the fight song says, the Bears thrilled the nation for the first half. Everyone outside Wisconsin, that is.
The Bears overwhelmed the Packers early, executing an imaginative offense rarely seen in Chicago and dominating on defense in the familiar Bears tradition.
When the Bears capped an impressive opening drive with Trubisky keeping the ball for a 2-yard touchdown run after a fake handoff with left tackle Charles Leno Jr. lined up wide on the right side, you sensed change was in the air. By the time Allen Robinson came down with a leaping 33-yard catch like a legitimate No. 1 wide receiver the Bears have lacked, you figured it would be a long night for the Packers. The offense Nagy insisted had proven itself enough during 2,000 practice snaps to sit out the fourth preseason game had done a complete 180 from last season. The variety of formations and weapons at Trubisky's disposal kept the Packers guessing, just as players promised.
Defensively, the confidence boost the Bears received from the blockbuster trade with the Raiders only eight days earlier for elite pass rusher Khalil Mack carried over onto the field. Mack didn't start at outside linebacker _ Aaron Lynch did in his place, becoming the answer to a trivia question _ but registered a sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery and 27-yard interception return for a touchdown in his first two quarters as a Bear. It resembled the kind of individual dominance by a Bears defender not seen since at least Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher and possibly members of the 1985 Bears.
Nobody was wondering if Mack was worth two first-round draft picks and $90 million by the end of the first half. Mack regularly commanded attention away from other defensive linemen such as Roy Robertson-Harris, a revelation who knocked Rodgers out of the game briefly in the second quarter, and Akiem Hicks, who defined the term unblockable. Even first-round draft pick Roquan Smith, replacing injured starter Danny Trevathan in spot duty, sacked the quarterback on his first NFL snap.
This was a fun and entertaining display Bears fans have waited too long to see. This sent Chicagoans to their phones and computers during halftime to Google Super Bowl LIII. This was one-sided enough in the early going for a crowd of 78,282 to boo the Packers off the field at halftime, trailing 17-0.
Things went so well for the Bears early that it was easy to understand why Nagy decided to go for it on fourth-and-4 at the Packers' 37 with a 10-0 lead in the second quarter and shaky backup quarterback DeShone Kizer in the game. The Packers sacked Trubisky and the Bears lost possession, but the decision stayed consistent with Nagy's philosophy: Seize momentum and keep it. The call revealed the aggressive coach they wanted at Halas Hall.
Then the second half came. The Bears offense grew stagnant, the defense lacked its burst. Meanwhile, Rodgers grew more comfortable with every series. He threw a strike to Geronimo Allison for a 39-yard touchdown. He found Davante Adams for 51 more. He took what the Bears gave him.
Why did the Bears stop attacking Rodgers in the second half with his mobility clearly limited? What happened to the pass rush that produced so much pressure? Why couldn't cornerback Kyle Fuller have caught the interception that Rodgers threw right to him and would have sealed the game?
The Packers even gave the Bears a chance they didn't deserve when Clay Matthews roughed the passer on their final, futile drive. They failed to take advantage, looking as out of sync in the end as they were smooth in the beginning. They blew a 20-point lead, a tough reality to swallow no matter the opponent.
As Nagy's first game as Bears head coach ended, his real work began.?
