Nagy is 31-24 as Bears coach, including 19-20 over the last three seasons. | AP Photos
The Bears were out of it by the end of the first quarter and delivered one of the NFL’s worst performances of the season.
TAMPA, Fla. — As the mountain of embarrassment somehow keeps growing, it’s becoming increasingly uncomfortable watching coach Matt Nagy flail for an explanation of the debacle he and general manager Ryan Pace created.
If he’s still looking for “the whys,” as he always is, he should start with Pace for designing a dysfunctional roster and himself for driving the offense off a cliff as he wastes the precious prime of his defensive stars.
At every disastrous downturn over the last three seasons, it has seemed like it couldn’t possibly get worse. But the Bears keep freefalling through apparent rock bottoms to new depths. There’s always a new wrinkle to the humiliation.
This one was absolutely shameful. At no point in their 38-3 loss to the defending champion Buccaneers did the Bears look like they belonged in the same league as them. It had the feel of Western Carolina venturing out timidly to face Alabama, and that’s inexcusable. It was one of the NFL’s worst performances of the season.
The Bears became the first team this season to give up 35 points in the first half and suffered the largest defeat of Nagy’s tenure. And they’re fortunate it didn’t get worse thanks to a missed field goal and the Bucs pulling Tom Brady early in the fourth quarter.
That the Bears continue to let Pace and Nagy call the shots is indefensible and calls into question whether the organization has any standards. By keeping those two after back-to-back seasons of 8-8 and appalling offense, chairman George McCaskey signaled they aren’t very high.
By letting them continue to preside over the rest of this season in the wild hope of sneaking into a playoff spot at 9-8 as they risk wrecking rookie quarterback Justin Fields, it’s clear he hasn’t hit his limit yet.
But everyone else has.
Fields, by the way, added plenty to the mess. While it’s important to be patient and remember that this was only his fifth start, as well as to point out that Nagy hasn’t helped him as much as he should’ve, he has reached a point where it’s fair to hold him accountable for carelessness and repeat errors.
Regardless of how dilapidated the Bears’ already-shaky offensive line was as they opened with practice-squad right tackle Lachavious Simmons, Fields can’t fumble three times — losing two — and throw three interceptions. At some point, he has to realize what he’s working with blocking-wise and adapt.
But he bears the least blame for where the Bears sit. He just got here, and he’s their best shot at fixing this.
It won’t matter how quickly he develops, though, if he’s going to continue under the mismanagement of Pace and Nagy. He can’t spend his entire career dodging an endless parade of pass rushers, getting no help from tight ends and playing in an offensive system that isn’t maximizing his talents.
Neither he nor the Bears is going to get where they want to be if this continues.
