Super Bowl 2025: Masterminds of Chicago Bears 2018 season face off in Vic Fangio vs. Matt Nagy
1st & North: Predicting NFL free agent moves, Super Bowl preview
In this week's 1st & North, we break down the most likely landing spots for top NFL free agents and preview Sunday's big game.
No one needs to explain to Vic Fangio that his career is nearing its final chapters. The Philadelphia Eagles' defensive coordinator can sense it.
The work weighs on the 66-year-old, especially in a year when his has led to a 21-game season and Super Bowl LIX on the horizon.
"It's the hours for six, seven months of the year, especially this year," Fangio said at Super Bowl LIX Media Day.
If this is Fangio's last dance, it'll be a fitting moment for the highly regarded defensive coordinator. His Eagles' defense will take on the Kansas City Chiefs' offense, coordinated by his former boss and former Bears head coach Matt Nagy. Fangio was Nagy's defensive coordinator for a season before taking the head coaching job in Denver.
The two masterminds of the last great Chicago Bears' season in 2018 face off on the biggest stage in sports.
"I know Vic," Nagy told reporters last Friday. "The way he teaches that and the way he coaches this scheme and then the little different wrinkles that he’s going to add to it is always going to be there."
Fangio and Nagy teamed up in the 2018 season after Nagy retained Fangio as his defensive coordinator. Fangio led the Bears' defense for three seasons under John Fox.
Retaining Fangio paid off. Under Fangio, the Bears were already seen as a rising and talented defense. In 2018, the Bears traded for pass-rushing star Khalil Mack and saw all-pro seasons emerge from safety Eddie Jackson and cornerback Kyle Fuller, plus young talent fitting in immediately, like linebacker Roquan Smith.
There was no real secret to Fangio's scheme. It was always rooted in having players the coaches could trust to make plays.
"Just play hard and make a play when it’s your turn," Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat told reporters on Tuesday.
That doesn't mean the Eagles will wait for the plays to come to them. Nagy noted how aggressive Fangio's defense is, as well as how Fangio is good as hiding what they want to do from opposing offenses.
"There’s not a lot that they do, but they’re all about the disguise," Nagy said. "They want to be able to make you think that they’re in one coverage and play a different one. Then, it enables them to be able to play fast."
That makes the Eagles' defense the biggest threat the Chiefs have faced in any Super Bowl to date.
"You take good players in a good scheme, you put it together, and you see why they’re a really good defense," Nagy said. "They’re playing with confidence, and I think as a team, they’re playing complementary football all three phases."
Featured
What to expect from a Chicago Bears defense under defensive coordinator Dennis Allen
In his introduction on Thursday, Dennis Allen was asked about what his style of defense would look like. The word "aggressive" came up multiple times as part of what to expect under the new DC.
Still, there's a reason the Chiefs have won two consecutive Super Bowls and won three of the past of the past five Super Bowls.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been inevitable. He's 8-0 against Fangio's defenses, something Mahomes saw twice a season when Fangio was the head coach of the Denver Broncos. However, Mahomes isn't finding confidence in that past record.
"That’s what makes him great," Mahomes said Wednesday. "He’s not going to do exactly what he did last time."
Still, the Chiefs are different now as compared to when Fangio knew them in Denver.
There's been a sharp criticism of how Nagy's offense has held Mahomes' back from the explosive-play-oriented show on turf that Mahomes was known for when he rose to power in the league in 2018.
In the 2024 season, the Chiefs produced four pass plays of 40 or more yards. Only three teams produced fewer plays of 40 yards or more. However, the Chiefs replaced explosiveness with sustained offense.
Nagy's offense ranks first in the NFL in time elapsed per drive and plays per drive. Putting it simply: the Chiefs find ways to move the football and wear defenses out.
This keeps the Kansas City defense, which ranked fourth in the league in points allowed per game, fresh.
It'll be the ultimate chess game between the two most important members of the brain trust that led the Chicago Bears to a 12-4 record in 2018, which included their last NFC North title.
"They make you play your best," Fangio said.