The ebbs and flows of an NFL season can be crazy. Back in early October, it felt like things might be coming together for Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace. The Chicago Bears defense was still playing well. Justin Fields had landed on the roster and had begun showing flashes of a potential franchise quarterback. For the briefest of instants, it felt like George McCaskey made the right call by retaining those two men.
Then reality set in. After starting 3-2, the Bears have lost six of their last seven games. Any dreams of getting back to the playoffs are all but dead. The offense is 30th in the NFL for both scoring and total yards. It is 32nd in passing. Everything Nagy has tried to get that side of the ball fixed continues to fail. All of the attempts by Pace to provide him with better talent aren’t working too well either.
The loss to Arizona emphasized this more than ever.
Andy Dalton, Nagy’s handpicked placeholder for this season, threw four interceptions despite help from a strong ground attack. Cole Kmet had a brutal drop that led to an interception and a poor block in pass protection that led to another. Jaylon Johnson was beaten for a touchdown. Darnell Mooney had his 5th drop of the season. This was the latest game that reinforced the reality that neither man has been good enough at his job.
This would explain why a source indicated to SM that the winds at Halas Hall have drifted closer than ever before to a full purge of the power structure. Nagy is already gone in the minds of most. The lingering issue was Pace. Some wondered if George McCaskey might consider keeping him around. With the way things are going, that has started to change. A sentiment that is shared by Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog who has strong sources of his own.
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Low. I think the Bears will be cleaning house. https://t.co/gLut5iUPVJ
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) December 6, 2021
Chicago Bears are heading in the wrong direction
Anybody with eyes can see it by this point. The defense is regressing. The roster is among the oldest in the league. Try to imagine how brutal this season would be right now if the team hadn’t lucked into Fields back in August. He is their only ray of hope and somehow they mismanaged his development from the jump. Nagy refused to give him reps with the #1 offense in training camp, saving them all for Dalton. Pace failed to fortify his protection or provide viable depth in the passing game.
Everything about this regime speaks of two men who are average at their jobs. Good enough to beat up on bad organizations but completely outclassed by good ones. This can’t be what the McCaskeys were hoping for after such a promising start in 2018.
Against the teams currently inside the NFC playoff frame, the Bears are now 0-5 with an average margin of defeat of 17.
Chew on that for a few minutes.
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) December 6, 2021
Matt Nagy is now 2-13 when his team has more than 7 days to prepare for a game.
— Ryan Dengel (@BdrDengel) December 5, 2021
THREAD
A $208.2M salary cap in 2022 would give the Bears about $44M in cap space as of right now, but that's with only 26 players under contract. Here's what the current depth chart is for 2022. https://t.co/fjnFujxEzg pic.twitter.com/8RXjk38SJq
— Johnathan Wood (@Johnathan_Wood1) December 6, 2021
If they aren’t qualified to help Fields excel?
Then it is time to find somebody who can. Word around the NFL is that both head coach and GM candidates are highly intrigued by the Chicago Bears job. It shouldn’t be a huge challenge trying to lure the top candidates. What it comes down to, as always, is whether George McCaskey can actually pick the right ones for a change. Something he has failed to do since taking over in 2011.
