Bears’ 31-17 loss to Vikings should be final blow for Matt Nagy, Ryan Pace

MINNEAPOLIS — Matt Nagy promised the Bears would “have a little fun out there” against the Vikings in what would surely be his final game as head coach.

As long as you define fun by dink-and-dunk passes, a familiarly unsatisfying amount of scoring and a touch of disorganization, it was a blast. All the monotony that was the hallmark of the Nagy era led to a tedious, trivial 31-17 loss to the Vikings on Sunday to close the season and his tenure with the team.

Last time Nagy had “so much fun,” it was moments before the Packers went on a 24-0 run to blowout the Bears last month.

With his exit looming anytime in the next two days, Nagy walked out of U.S. Bank Stadium with a 34-31 record as Bears coach, including 22-27 over the last three seasons.

Nagy wanted to go out his way Sunday and certainly did. After Andy Dalton — his preferred quarterback — threw short of the sticks on third-and-seven early in the second quarter, Nagy opted go for a fourth-and-one at the Vikings’ 13-yard line.

But he wasn’t quite prepared and needed a timeout as the play clock dwindled to seven seconds without a play being called. And even after that time to think, Nagy ignored that running back David Montgomery was averaging nearly five yards per carry at the time — he wasn’t even on the field — and called a pass that ended with Dalton being sacked for a loss of five.

Some things never change. That’s why the Bears have needed to move on from Nagy for a long time.

Speaking of which, don’t forget about general manager Ryan Pace. His mistakes have been laid out for all to see this season and bubbled up like a rash Sunday.

Defensive back Marqui Christian, a glaring example of Pace’s poor planning, tripped and fell while trying to hold on to Vikings receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette in the third quarter and let him run free for a 44-yard touchdown pass.

Smith-Marsette is a fifth-round rookie who had two career catches going into the game. Christian was out of the NFL for most of last season, but the Bears were so depleted at cornerback that he started the season opener for them.

The Bears also gave up a 21-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Osborn in the fourth quarter as he raced wide open to the left corner of the end zone and Justin Jefferson was completely uncovered in the right corner. Meanwhile, cornerbacks Artie Burns and Jaylon Johnson, linebacker Alec Ogletree and a fourth defender stood in a cluster staring and gesturing toward each other about who should’ve been where.

It was a moot point minutes later when Dalton sunk the Bears with a pick-six. He finished the season with eight touchdown passes and nine interceptions in a performance that almost made you miss Mitch Trubisky.

The Bears’ season-opening loss to the Rams unraveled all the delusional assertions Pace and Nagy made in the offseason, and the problems persisted with minimal interruption the rest of the season.

There was no vertical passing attack. There still isn’t.

The secondary had major holes. It still does.

Nagy didn’t seem to know how to maximize rookie quarterback Justin Fields. He still doesn’t.

Things only got marginally better after Nagy bottomed out with an indefensible game plan against the Browns, getting Fields and the team crushed, and handed play calling over to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. Even then, the Bears went all the way to mid-December before breaking the 30-point barrier and sat 4-10 before picking up wins over the hapless Seahawks, Giants and Vikings at the end.

This can’t continue. And the only way for the Bears to change the course of their franchise is to change out the people running it. Nagy’s dismissal is imminent, and Pace must go with him.

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