The Chicago Bears are well past the stains of former head coach Matt Nagy and have ushered in a new era under Ben Johnson, but former NFL great Jason Kelce just decided to take a brutal look back at one of the breaking points.
On a recent podcast episode, Kelce was speaking with Nagy, along with his brother Travis Kelce, and talked about the way that last Nagy season ended in Chicago.
"If that double-doink doesn't happen, Matt, you might still be the head coach of Chicago," Kelce said.
In a word ... woof.
Had the double-doink not happened, the Bears might not have gotten Ben Johnson
Kelce and Nagy went on to discuss just how well the Bears' defense was playing late into that season which ended prematurely against the Eagles. That team was, in their words, "rolling."
What would have happened if the Bears advanced in the playoffs and Cody Parkey didn't do that? Would Nagy have lasted a little longer? There's a good chance he sure would have.
Now, would that necessarily mean Nagy is still coaching in Chicago today? No, of course not. There are a lot of things that could and would have happened to influence Nagy's future in Chicago. But, if Nagy had lasted one more year, maybe the Bears wouldn't have moved on to Matt Eberflus.
And, had it not been Eberflus, would the Bears have been able to land an improvement, the following year, instead?
There are plenty of "what ifs" involved, here, but the bottom line is this: if the Bears hadn't gone home on that misfortune of a kick, the future could have turned out differently. Maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't have ended up with Ben Johnson.
That might sound like a stretch, but crazier things have happened.
I suppose, in the end, Bears fans might actually be able to look at that infamous moment in a more positive light.
Read more: Ndamukong Suh says what every Bears fan already knew about Jay Cutler
All right, that's enough of that. Back to your regularly scheduled program.