Bears hire Chuck Pagano to be Defensive Coordinator

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UOK
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Breaking now.
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GSH
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Otis Day
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From Fangio to Pagano, wello, wello.

Welcome to Chitown Chuck. Don't fuck it up.
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I think it's a fine hire. People get skewed visions of coaches when they fail as HC's. They somehow think it means they're also a poor assistant. When, in fact, the only reason they got a HC job was because they saw a lot of success as an assistant.

Pagano's improvement of Baltimore's D in 2011...

"Pagano's defense finished 3rd in both points allowed and in yards allowed. They finished 13 in takeaways and 2nd Rush yards allowed, but Baltimore's defense has always been known for its ability to stop the run. Pagano drastically improved the pass defense going from 21st in passing yards allowed to 4th. They improved from 9th in passing touchdowns allowed to 1st in the league. The defense also came away with 17 interceptions. Pagano is known for his ability in secondary and ability to stop opposing teams pass attack."
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docc
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Yep..read it a few minutes ago..good hire..
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G08
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I like it! Hopefully he can have similar success to the last time he was defensive coordinator!

I think he's more aggressive than Fangio, which I like!
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docc
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I wonder does he bring in his little brother John ?
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wab
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I’m good with it. He had zero talent in Indy after Mathis retired. Grigson couldn’t draft worth a shit.
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I'm not thrilled, but not ready to declare that the sky is falling yet. No idea what his defensive philosophy or identity.
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KOP_Snake
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Not gonna lie, my only thought was "Oh good I've heard of him."

I know he had a battle with cancer, and that's why Arians was interim head coach and led to his job with the Cardinals.
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That 2011 Baltimore team was pretty damn good.

Suggs 2011 highlights
https://youtu.be/EXhCK0MkleM
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Umbali
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Well, he should have to learn our terminology etc..why teach the whole D when you can just make the coach learn? :P

Hope it works out
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docc
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I wonder where Donatell lands and how he answered the question when he interviewed with the Bears.. If he gave any indication about DC or gone..
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KOP_Snake wrote:Not gonna lie, my only thought was "Oh good I've heard of him."
I can see that thought. I feel somewhat the same. I'm good with it.
Mikefive's theory: The only time you KNOW that a sports team player, coach or management member is being 100% honest is when they're NOT reciting "the company line".

Go back to leather helmets, NFL.
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His players rave about him so I think, even if our defensive guys are a little weary of losing Fangio, he should win them over quickly.

Dude can turn on the 2011 Ravens tape, as mmmc mentioned above, and get their attention. I'm excited... I think we're going to be more aggressive on that side of the ball, which means more sacks/hits but may cost us some big plays on the back-end.

Mack = Suggs
Smith = Lewis
Jackson = Reed

Too soon? Wouldn't that be something :D
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G08
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"Chuck is unorthodox," Suggs said. "He's like the Joker. You never really expect what he's going to do, and everything has a motive."

The Ravens considered Pagano to be just one of the guys.

"What makes him good? He relates to the players a whole lot," defensive end Cory Redding said. "He's almost like a player in a D-coordinator's position. The guy has so much fun with us. He treats you like more than a player. It's like we're his sons. He wants us to do well. He keeps it fresh. He knows everybody's strengths and puts them in position to make plays."
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G08
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Pagano's style is more aggressive, something he's never tried to hide. In the press conference that introduced him as defensive coordinator, Pagano said, "My philosophy is: let's go out and wreak havoc."
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G08
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Good read: https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/rav ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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IotaNet
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G08 wrote:Good read: https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/rav ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Darned good read! I especially liked this part ...

“Pagano's style is more aggressive, something he's never tried to hide. In the press conference that introduced him as defensive coordinator, Pagano said, "My philosophy is: let's go out and wreak havoc."

"That's our personality. We constantly want to keep coming after people," linebacker Jarret Johnson said. "If we make a mistake, we want it to be on our backs and not the fact that we laid back. We want to constantly be bringing heat."

Last week against Kansas City, the Ravens finished with five sacks and nine quarterback hits for a total of 14 shots on the quarterback.

The number of hits is a little surprising considering the Chiefs tried to protect their quarterbacks with three-step drops and quick screens. It could also be a little scary considering the Ravens have only scratched the surface of their playbook.

"Chuck is a madman," Foxworth said. "It's going to be some really interesting things that you're going to see happening. It's going to require a great deal of dedication mentally from our guys to keep up with the complex things. We have a lot of situations where guys are doing jobs where they wouldn't normally be doing them. It helps disguise a defense and helps to get us more sacks, which seems to be the big focus of what Chuck wants to do.”


Yeah — that works for me. Thanks for finding and sharing this.
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I’m relieved. This feels like a good fit.


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KOP_Snake wrote:Not gonna lie, my only thought was "Oh good I've heard of him."

I know he had a battle with cancer, and that's why Arians was interim head coach and led to his job with the Cardinals.
That was the only good year the Colts had while he was there, is when he was gone with Cancer.
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Pagano was also my "on deck" guy following Donatell.

I'm gonna guess that A) Donatell would not commit before considering Denver, and B) Pace was not willing to delay a decision for that and risk losing Pagano.

Can't say that I blame Donatell. He and Vic have coached together for quite awhile and have had much success as a duo so why wouldn't he want to keep that relationship intact. I may be wrong but I'm thinking the DC job in Denver is his provided he passes Elway's muster.

Pagano has been an excellent secondary coach himself so in that regard we have a guy who can somewhat replace Donatell's influence and we seem to be sticking with Italians as well. LOL

I like the hire.
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I'm not sure what to think of this right now. He did some great things Baltimore that year. I don't think Indy had the players to field a great defense to begin with so I'm not sure how much he's to blame for their performance.

Hopefully he comes in here and we don't lose a step. With our schedule next year we're going to need all the help we can get.
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Just woke up to the news here in the UK. Relieved that the Bears have pulled the trigger rather than play the risky waiting game with teams still alive in the playoffs. Obviously I'd love to have kept Vic, but having read the bio on Pagano on the Bears app, I'm pretty happy. Sounds like a really good fit.
I cannot imagine how excited he must be to get to play with his new toys! But how frustrating to have to wait a few months to get the key to the toy cupboard!
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The Marshall Plan wrote:I'm not sure what to think of this right now. He did some great things Baltimore that year. I don't think Indy had the players to field a great defense to begin with so I'm not sure how much he's to blame for their performance.

Hopefully he comes in here and we don't lose a step. With our schedule next year we're going to need all the help we can get.
I get what you're saying and sure, the Bears will have a 1st place schedule next year. But judging next year's schedule against last year's is always a misleading business. So much can change in free agency and the draft and with coaching moves. Top teams from one year can have a drop off in the next - GB and Minny for example. And teams that have been in 4th place for 4 years can rise up and win the division with a 12-4 record! Hehe! :)

The Bears finishing in 1st place only affects 6 of the 16 games in next year's schedule anyway. They would face the NFCN and AFCW in any event. The only difference is that they'll play the top teams in the other NFC divisions.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Bears take on the stronger teams next season. Roll on September!
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Thanks for that read. I only really know him from his HC past. Sounds like it might be a smooth transfer
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Umbali wrote:Well, he should have to learn our terminology etc..why teach the whole D when you can just make the coach learn? :P

Hope it works out
Disagree

He’s the DC, trust him to do his thing. Asking the coach to come in and “fit in” is what got Mel Tucker into trouble. He was running half of his D and half of Lovies. Nobody was on the same page.
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Well I got too much going on to dig into this too much, but Chuck took over the Raven's Superbowl defense that was compared to the Bears '85 team for greatness. While it was still very good the following year, there were some areas that the team slipped. One was turnover margin. Bal went from 1st overall in '00 to 23rd in '01. Now was that from the offense fumbling and throwing INT's way more, or the defense just not getting the TO's it did the year before? Our team feasted off TO's this year and a major drop will make us look closer to average, especially against the schedule we have in 2019.
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cblaz11 wrote:
Umbali wrote:Well, he should have to learn our terminology etc..why teach the whole D when you can just make the coach learn? :P

Hope it works out
Disagree

He’s the DC, trust him to do his thing. Asking the coach to come in and “fit in” is what got Mel Tucker into trouble. He was running half of his D and half of Lovies. Nobody was on the same page.
Good coordinators don't come into the #1 defense and change a bunch of shit just to stroke their ego. Chuck is considered a players' coach, so I don't expect him to muck up too much. But almost every defense will change their calls from year to year (and game to game for divisional opponents), or teams will know what the defense is adjusting to and where the blitz is coming from. The oly calls that stay the same are the Payton Manning "Omaha" dummy calls.
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I'm kinda warming to this selection, but more so as a relief that we didn't take one of the Ryan's. I don't really have a good feel of how to evaluate this one. The year in Baltimore was nice, but their coaches and players tend to do less well when they leave. In Indy he didn't have the defensive talent to work with, so it is hard to really evaluate. My biggest concern with this hire though is Pagano's ambitions or loyalties. One great way to fuck up Nagy's tenure is to waste the defensive talent by having our DC leave every year to become an HC, and never let the D side grow in system continuity, and constantly have those players in emotional flux. It would be the reverse of the OC carousel that characterized Lovie's years. I've a bad feeling Pagano is just using us as a stepping stone and next year we are right back in this spot.
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