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https://www.reddit.com/r/CHIBears/comments/afk8ru/ravens_legend_ed_reed_would_consider_joining/
Bears fans are going to like Chuck Pagano, defensive coordinator.
Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks and Eddie Jackson are going to like him, too.
Almost everybody who knows the former Colts head coach likes him. If you don’t like him, you can probably find the reason in the mirror.
I’ve known Pagano for a number of years. He connected with me right away — like he connects with everyone.
Somewhere in a drawer in my house are a few royal blue “ChuckStrong” T-shirts that I bought when he was undergoing treatment for leukemia. He and I stayed in touch through his illness, and his strength was inspirational to me, as it was to thousands.
Pagano’s predecessor Vic Fangio has been described as a grouch, “an evil genius,” and a lord “growing his blitz package in the dungeon.” Pagano , meanwhile, is described as a people person, warm enough to make you feel the need to fan yourself in his presence.
Ed Reed, who is expected to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-ballot inductee next month, knows Pagano as well as anyone in the game. Pagano was his position coach at the University of Miami for four years. Pagano later became Reed’s position coach in Baltimore. Including the one season in which Pagano was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, he and Reed were together for eight seasons.
When Pagano recruited Reed from Destrehan High School in Destrehan, Louisana, he told him he should always think about “what if?” To this day, Reed always considers the “what if” factor.
“I apply it to my life,” he said. “He had a great impact on me.”
At the University of Miami, Reed said Pagano taught him how to improve his backpedal, which he needed work on, and enabled him to “become a master of my craft.” But he taught him much more.
“He was like a father figure,” Reed told me. “When we had free time, Chuck would have the DBs come over to his house. His wife Tina was like a mom to me when I was in school. I’d go over there, wash my clothes, get something to eat and talk about things in life. Chuck was a teacher of professionalism. At that stage of my life in college, to learn that was key for me. He was a big part of me getting to where I got, my maturation as a man.”
By the time Reed and Pagano were reunited in Baltimore, Reed had been in the NFL seven seasons and already had four Pro Bowls and 34 interceptions on his resume. But Pagano still was able to make him a better player, Reed said. In the four years they were together in the NFL, Reed had more interceptions (23) than in any other four-year stretch of his career.
Former safety Tommy Zbikowski had a similar relationship with Pagano. He still remembers his first night in Baltimore as a Raven prior to his first rookie camp. Pagano showed up at the hotel to make him feel at home, and go over some points about the defense.
“That’s the type of person he is,” Zbikowski said. “He is considerate in that way and cares about every player he comes across. I felt close to Chuck as soon as I got to Baltimore. I was a young guy in my 20s trying to figure out life and the NFL and everything that goes with it. He was a father away from my father.”
After four years in Baltimore, Zbikowski became a free agent and signed with Pagano’s Colts. He said the reason was “100 percent because of Chuck Pagano.”
In past conversations with me, Pagano praised Zbikowski’s “football IQ,” and indicated he thought he would make a good coach. Zbikowski, a local hero who coaches wrestling at Fremd High School, would be an excellent addition to Pagano’s staff with the Bears.
So would Reed, who was an assistant defensive backs coach with the Bills in 2016. Prior to accepting his job with the Bears, Pagano was set to be the head coach of the American Team in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl this week, and Reed was supposed to be his defensive coordinator.
Reed said he would welcome an offer from the Bears.
“I’m a huge fan of Eddie Jackson’s,” Reed said. “He was my guy this year. (Kyle) Fuller over there, Khalil Mack. That was my favorite defense. I thought they’d still be trucking along right now. I love Chicago. I have some family out there and some Miami alumni I’m close with. There is a connection there.”
There undoubtedly is a long line of associates who would embrace the chance to work with Pagano again.
Kicker Adam Vinatieri says former coach Chuck Pagano sees his players as people first. (Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY Sports) I once asked Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri what he thought of Pagano.
“I think that experience with him overcoming cancer probably made him appreciate there is so much more to life than football,” he said. “When he asks you how is your family, how is your wife, how are your kids, he means it. He wants to know. I don’t want to speak for him, but I think that situation makes you prioritize things. Football is very important to all of us, but it makes you realize how important family is, how important every minute is. He tells us all the time, tomorrow is not guaranteed. Enjoy the time you have now, make the best effort you can and see where the chips lay.”
Of course, Pagano isn’t coming to Chicago to run for Mr. Congeniality. He’s also not coming to Chicago for the Italian restaurants or so his wife can shop the Mag Mile — though he’s done both in the past.
He’s coming to Chicago to coach defense. And he’s proven to be darned good at that.
When he took over the Ravens defense in 2011, he helped them improve from 21st in passing yards to fourth.
“Chuck did a masterful job,” said Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta, who was the team’s director of player personnel at the time.
He did it with aggressiveness.
“We liked pressing our corners to wear out receivers,” Zbikowski said. “We were always attacking, wearing down an offense, taking away what they do best, make them uncomfortable.”
Philosophically, Pagano and Fangio are alike. They were position coaches on the same Ravens staff in 2009.
“They are definitely similar in a lot of ways,” Zbikowski said. “Chuck is more of a people person, but Vic really has a great defensive mind too.”
One of Pagano’s trademarks is being open to player input.
“He understood it was a partnership,” Reed said. “We used to have meetings with Ray (Lewis), Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata and me and Chuck. He gave us a say in the game plan. I used to watch tape with him all the time. He was welcoming and opened the doors to his players.”
The son of an accomplished high school coach in Colorado, Pagano played safety at Wyoming, and still sees the game through the eyes of a DB. For most of his career, he has been a secondary coach.
“He’s got a really good sense for the back end, and that helps him as a defensive coordinator,” DeCosta said. “He’s aggressive and innovative and unpredictable.”
He’s also a skilled evaluator, according to DeCosta. It’s important that coordinators can evaluate and project, because most general managers won’t acquire a player whom the coordinator isn’t sold on. Fangio is an excellent evaluator, which is reflected in the number of young defenders who have excelled for the Bears.
Before the 2009 draft, Pagano helped sell then-Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome on a small-school cornerback whom many viewed as a high-risk player. Newsome listened and chose Lardarius Webb, from Nicholls State, with a third-round pick. Webb became a starter and long-time contributor.
“He was everything Chuck thought he could be,” DeCosta said. “Chuck had a lot do to with him being selected, and with his development.”
Pagano’s Colts teams went 11-5 in his first three seasons as head coach (the first year he missed 12 games while being treated for cancer). Over his last three seasons in Indy, they were 20-32.
But what happened to Pagano the head coach really isn’t important to the Bears. What matters now is how he runs a defense.
And there is a lot to like about Chuck Pagano, defensive coordinator.
