Last year at this time, the Chicago Bears were in their third, and final, year of the John Fox era, they were 3-9 and limping towards their fourth consecutive losing season. At this point in 2017, the Los Angeles Rams were 9-3 in the first year of the Sean McVay era, and sitting atop the NFC West. McVay took over after five straight seasons of losing under Jeff Fisher, and he immediately helped turn the franchise around after getting second year quarterback Jared Goff turned around.
The Bears are on a similar path under head coach Matt Nagy this year, with second year QB Mitchell Trubisky playing much better, and at 8-4 they are in the driver’s seat in the NFC North.