The Chicago Bears couldn't get much lower than they were last November after back-to-back embarrassments, the second coming at the hands of arch-rival Green Bay. While the team played out the string under the cloud of doubt that accompanies a coach who most feel is on his way out, Bears fans longed for a return to the days their favorite team fielded a dominating defense. Heck, simply a competent defense would do. Almost anything would be better than the monstrosity Marc Trestman presided over. 

Enter Vic Fangio. 

Hired by new Bears head coach John Fox, Fangio brings with him one very important point on his resume. Chiefly, his undefeated record against Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers while he was defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers. 

Obviously, there are a lot of things at play in that undefeated mark, but Fangio's results against arguably the game's best quarterback are hard to ignore or easily dismiss. 

CBS Chicago's Dan Durkin has a great overview of what made Fangio so successful against Rodgers and the Packers during his 49ers tenure. 

Money quote: 

When you sift through Rodgers’ game logs, one fact stands out. From 2012 through 2014, he went 0-4 against the San Francisco 49ers — and new Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was calling the shots for the 49ers in each of those games.

Obviously, it takes a complete team effort to beat the Packers. In three of the four games, the 49ers won the time of possession and turnover battles and had fewer penalties. But Fangio’s game-planning also played a big role in the four-game sweep.

I highly recommend reading Durkin's breakdown of Fangio's scheme and game plan against Rodgers while in San Francisco. It's quite well done. 

Of course, the big test will come this fall when Fangio is tasked with duplicating his past success without the copious amounts of talent he had on hand with the 49ers. There's a reason the Bears were desperate enough to try and sign Ray McDonald (before that blew up in their face.)

The Bears had to go do some heavy shopping in free agency to just bring up the talent level on the defensive side of the ball to something resembling respectable, especially in comparison to what Fangio had to work with in San Francisco. 

Still, that doesn't mean the Bears defense won't be much improved. I suspect it will. Both Fox and Fangio are excellent defensive coaches. No matter what the talent level is, they won't make the mistakes that Mel Tucker made repeatedly. (But that's a whole other post...) 

That opening game can't get here soon enough...