Matt Nagy might have great survival instincts but even he can’t suffer the rate of ugly setbacks that keep happening this season. People thought things were bad a few weeks ago in Cleveland when Justin Fields was sacked nine times and the Chicago Bears lost 26-6. Then Tampa Bay happened. From the outset, it was obvious Nagy once again didn’t have the offense prepared. Fields was sacked four times, harassed all afternoon, and turned the ball over five times.
It marked the seventh time in his coaching tenure the Bears scored a touchdown or less in a game and the 26th time they’d failed to crack 200 net passing yards for a game. What makes it even more incredible is that the running game has worked really well. Khalil Herbert, their 6th round rookie, ran for 100 yards on the day. That should’ve opened up opportunities for lots of play action. Opportunities that weren’t exploited.
Again.
Fans are already calling for his head. What nobody knows is the thinking from ownership. George McCaskey is the one who controls this narrative. He decided to keep Nagy around in 2021, citing his “character” as a big reason. Character is great but it doesn’t matter if the guy can’t score points. After seven weeks of this torture, it appears McCaskey is finally reaching a breaking point as well. Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog tweeted this on Monday morning.
Source close to ownership describes the mood inside the building as “fed up”.
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) October 25, 2021
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A source around that same time informed SM of some interesting details. This is true. McCaskey is not happy and is all but out of patience. The more interesting part of this is that it seems the majority of the heat is falling on just Nagy. While GM Ryan Pace isn’t free from criticism, it appears he isn’t feeling nearly as much heat as the head coach. This is due in large part to players Pace has drafted or signed having considerable success recently. Guys like Roquan Smith, Jaylon Johnson, Robert Quinn, Khalil Herbert, and Darnell Mooney.
Nagy can’t get the Chicago Bears to execute
The sense going around is that while he has the right mindset of a head coach, he just doesn’t have the ability to elevate his players. He can motivate them but not make them perform at the highest level. This is why the Chicago Bears constantly look overmatched by teams like Los Angeles, Green Bay, or Tampa Bay. They neither fear nor respect Nagy’s offense. Why should they? The offense is bland and lacks any sort of flexibility.
Most worrisome is the fact that players just aren’t executing. They say the devil is in the details and that is something Nagy never seems to be on top of. Late substitutions. Bad clock management. Players not knowing where they should be, which route to run, which block to throw, and so on. Dropped passes. Ill-timed penalties. This is not something that popped up in the past two months.
This all came to light as early as 2019.
McCaskey won’t fire Nagy midseason. It isn’t in his DNA. That said, it sounds like the head coach is more isolated than ever. The offense is the worst in the NFL and players seem to have checked out. Their prized young QB is getting battered with minimal help. There isn’t much else to see at this point.