Nagy is 32-27 in four seasons as Bears head coach. | AP Photos
A look at several key issues as the Bears head into their final six games.
Everything’s calm for the Bears after surviving a wild week of rumors and reports, and now they’re enjoying a short break before they resume with a brutally tough opponent in the Cardinals, followed by the Packers.
Here’s a look at where they stand:
The Bears’ past week has been…
Another embarrassing chapter in a series of them. That said, this was their worst week of the Matt Nagy era. While it wasn’t their fault that the Patch.com report surfaced — unless someone in their building was the source — they did the opposite of damage control. It’s hard to choose the most glaring absurdity that they allowed to happen, but here’s a candidate: The first person from the organization to face questions about the rumor was special teams coordinator Chris Tabor.
Who, or what, is to blame for the Bears’ week?
Poor journalism. The Bears should’ve snuffed this out immediately, but it never should’ve happened in the first place. If there’s a one-source story on Nagy being fired, that source needs to be one of four people: George McCaskey, Ted Phillips, Ryan Pace or Matt Nagy. Had it been true, all four would’ve been incentivized to keep it from leaking.
Did Matt Nagy handle it well?
He’s the only one who did. And that fact seemed to occur to him late in the week. In his press conference Friday, he launched an unprompted offensive on three reports during the week that he deemed false. It must’ve clicked for him that none of his superiors would come to his defense and he was on his own. That’s how it’s going to be the rest of the season.
Who is most responsible for the Bears’ exasperating season?
McCaskey. This is exactly what he asked for when he brought Pace and Nagy back with conflicting projects of rebuilding and trying to win now to save their jobs.
Will Nagy last the rest of the season? Why or why not?
Yes. The Bears will stick to their outdated, unnecessary, counterproductive principle of not firing a head coach during the season. In doing so, they’ll miss out on the early window to interview potential replacements. A normal team would’ve fired Nagy at least twice by now, but the Bears don’t operate like a normal team.
What will the Bears’ final record be?
5-12. The only obvious win left for them is home against the Giants. They’ll be an underdog in all the others. That’ll probably give them around the No. 7 pick in the draft — which goes to the Giants from the Justin Fields trade.
If I owned the Bears, my master plan over the next six weeks would be…
To keep everything exactly the same, including huge contract extensions for Nagy and Pace. I’d encourage them to carry on mortgaging the future by shipping off future draft picks and kicking salary-cap hits down the road as often as possible — whatever it takes to keep them meandering harmlessly while I tuck in my green No. 12 jersey and continue collecting two easy wins each season while I remind them that all my life I’ve owned them.
