Chicago Bears: Trip to Miami gives fans a glimpse of what could have been

The Chicago Bears travel to South Beach to take on the Miami Dolphins and some old familiar faces.

It’s kind of funny how things work out. The Chicago Bears travel to South Beach to take on the surprising Miami Dolphins in what will begin a tour through the AFC East. When they do, some of the players they will peer across the field and see some familiar faces both of whom previously spent time as the Bears’ offensive coordinator. One is Dolphins’ head coach Adam Gase and the other is his current offensive coordinator Patton Oswalt — uhhhh — I mean, Dowell Loggains.

There was a time, though, when Bears fans thought Adam Gase was going to be the savior who finally brought a modern NFL offense to the team. The Bears hired Gase in 2015 after he failed to secure a head coaching position himself. In fact, some (yours truly included) hoped Gase would be the pick after the Trestman debacle. Instead, he joined John Fox’s staff, with whom he had some familiarity, having served as his offensive coordinator on the Denver Broncos.

As Fox began to falter, fans speculated whether the Bears had their future head coach in waiting in Gase. However, Gase jumped at the opportunity (and off a sinking ship) to coach the Dolphins. Gase got off to a rough start and reportedly butted heads with some big name players on the team — most notably Ndamukong Suh and Jay Ajayi — neither of whom are still on the team.

While Gase has his team at 3-2, they have faltered in their last two games after starting 3-0. So as the Bears get ready to take down their old friend, let’s take a look at just how lucky the Bears are to be where they are.

Unanswered Prayers

For the country music aficionados, there is an older song by Garth Brooks called “Unanswered Prayers.” Essentially, the premise of the song is that sometimes the greatest gifts in life are prayers that are never answered, even though you may not realize it at the moment.

I’ll admit I was in the camp that was hoping Gase would eventually replace Fox. As I mentioned, I was also hoping Gase would have been the original hire. However, they went with Fox. The thought was that the Bears hired Fox to stem the tide, and right the ship before turning it over to a a young, up and coming coach. Recently, though, I’ve started to wonder ‘what if.” What if Gase didn’t take the Dolphins job and instead stayed on for another season in Chicago? Then, what if Cutler had another successful season, but the Bears overall failed to live up to expectations?

Although likely a longshot, you could envision a scenario in which the Bears sold themselves on the idea of Gase being the guy who could extract the most out of Cutler and extended Jay after the 2016 season. If that happens, maybe they also decide to make the switch to Gase as the full-time head coach.

Had that happened, it would have set the franchise back another five years. It would have foolishly convinced itself that Cutler was still a viable option, and given the reigns to a coach who was once thought to be an offensive innovator although his time in Miami so far has indicated otherwise.

However, the real tragedy would have been losing out on the combination of Mitchell Trubisky and Matt Nagy. So far this season, Nagy has proven to be the offensive mind that we all thought Gase was. His schemes and playcalling have kept defenses guessing all season and have resulted in some wide open receivers.

As a result, the Bears sit at 3-1 and in first place in the NFC North. They also appear to have the foundation in place for a sustained run in the conference. However, if a few things broke differently, we might be talking about the Bears and quarterback Jay Cutler heading into Miami to take on the Dolphins. Instead, Bears fans have hope this Sunday. Thank goodness for those unanswered prayers.