Reid all about it: Bears’ win sets up Nagy-Pederson playoff showdown vs. Eagles

MINNEAPOLIS — Trey Burton feigned ignorance when asked what he knows about the Bears’ next opponent.

“Not much,” he said.

In reality, he knows the Eagles better than any of his teammates do. Burton is one of the reasons why they’re the defending Super Bowl champs. He contributed a touchdown pass on the “Philly Special” that helped spark the upset of the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.

“I’m excited to see some of my best friends, honestly,” said Burton, who signed with the Bears in the offseason. “We’ll figure out what’s gonna happen this week.”

The Bears’ 24-10 victory over the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium and the Eagles’ 24-0 victory over the Redskins on Sunday set up a wild-card game between the Bears and Eagles next weekend that will have no shortage of storylines.

The matchup features the two prominent branches of the Andy Reid coaching tree — Bears rookie coach Matt Nagy and Eagles coach Doug Pederson — who have taken Reid’s “Be You” philosophy to another level with their aggressive, inventive approach. Under Nagy, the Bears have gone from 5-11 last season to 12-4 and the NFC North title. Under Pederson, the Eagles won the Super Bowl and also rallied from a post-Super Bowl funk to win five of their last six games after a 4-6 start and make the playoffs.

Nagy worked with Pederson and general manager Howie Roseman with the Eagles from 2008-12, and with Pederson with the Chiefs from 2013-14.

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“With Doug and Howie, with their players and with everything they do, I know them really well,” Nagy said. “Doug and I worked together for six years between Philadelphia and Kansas City. We spent many hours together, so we know each other really well.

“It’s a mutual friendship, a mutual respect. He’s a competitor. He wants to win. Same with us. It will be a great challenge.”

And it was Pederson’s Eagles who dumped the Bears to a new low last year under John Fox. They totally dominated the Bears in a 31-3 rout at Lincoln Financial Field in Week 12 — leading 24-0 at halftime and outgaining the Bears 420-140.

“But now they have to come to Chicago and play us here,’’ left tackle Charles Leno said. ‘‘We’ll be prepared.”

Linebacker Danny Trevathan didn’t play in that debacle but remembers the pain.

“Probably to the world it did [look bad],” Trevathan said. “We didn’t play our best ball and it looked bad. We did not want it to be like that. But it happened. You’ve got to bounce back from that.”

The loss to the Eagles last year is a good reference point for just how far the Bears have come since then. They have added Nagy, Burton, linebackers Khalil Mack and Roquan Smith. The Bears’ receivers in that game were Dontrelle Inman, Tre McBride, Kendall Wright and Markus Wheaton. That also was Mitch Trubisky’s seventh NFL start. This will be his 27th.

“We’re totally different,” Trevathan said. “New attitude. New leader. We know Philly’s a good team. They got the win they needed to get [against the Redskins]. We’ve got to get back in our playbook, hit the re-start button and come back ready to execute next week.”

Cornerback Prince Amukamara said he took a poll of teammates last week to see which opponent they preferred. “It was pretty mixed,” he said.

“I don’t care who it is,” Leno said. “We’ve been through so much already this season. We’ve been battle-tested. It doesn’t matter who comes to Soldier Field. We’re ready to play ’em. Just let us know what day it is and we’ll be there.”