A couple of days before the Chicago Bears were set to play the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round, cornerback Nahshon Wright pulled out a 3-by-5-inch index card, stashed in a special place in his locker for safekeeping, and showed it to a reporter.
On it, he had some goals he wrote down in the summer for media day: four interceptions, 15-plus pass deflections and have an impact on winning.
“I’m like three (or four) short on the pass deflections (11), I have one more than what I set out to do in terms of picks (five) and I did a pretty good job of impacting winning,” Wright told the Tribune. “So, yeah, man, it was kind of a full-circle moment because we did that back in June.
“And I didn’t know what my situation was going to be. I didn’t know if I was going to be a starter. I was just hoping to make the 53(-man roster), and to have done that in a year with a bunch of uncertainties — definitely a blessing.”
Add one more unexpected blessing for Wright.
After being snubbed in the initial Pro Bowl voting, he was named to the NFL showcase Monday — his first Pro Bowl nod — as an injury replacement for Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell.
Wright joins three Bears teammates on the NFC roster: safety Kevin Byard III, center Drew Dalman and guard Joe Thuney. That’s the most Pro Bowl honorees for the Bears since 2019, when cornerback Kyle Fuller, safety Eddie Jackson, outside linebacker Khalil Mack and return specialist Cordarrelle Patterson were selected.
The Pro Bowl Games, featuring an AFC-versus-NFC flag football game, will take place Feb. 3 in San Francisco (7 p.m., ESPN).
Wright led the league with eight takeaways during the regular season: five interceptions and three fumble recoveries. He also forced two fumbles and played a major role in the Bears leading the NFL with 23 interceptions and 33 takeaways.
He was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month for November, when he racked up a league-high five takeaways (three interceptions, two fumble recoveries) and had five straight games with a takeaway.
He told the Tribune his favorite impact play was his strip of Jalen Hurts during a Tush Push, a key moment in the Bears’ 24-15 upset of the Eagles on Black Friday.
“The Tush Push was crazy,” he said in December. “I probably got the most love from that play.”
Wright spent his first three seasons (2021-23) with the Dallas Cowboys and spent all but one game last season on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad before they released him in April.
The Bears signed him as a free agent, reuniting him with former Cowboys defensive backs coach Al Harris, now the Bears defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator.