Reports are head coach Matt Nagy, barring something unexpected, should return in 2021 as head coach of the Chicago Bears. This isn’t a huge surprise. After starting 5-1 this season, the team went into a tailspin losing six-straight. Instead of folding their tent, Nagy handed off play-calling to Bill Lazor and the Bears have since rallied. They’ve scored at least 30 points in their last four games and have won three in a row. However, not everybody on that staff should consider themselves safe. Especially defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano.
When the Bears hired him last year, it made sense. He was an experienced coach who’d run a 3-4 defense going back years. His lone season in Baltimore running the defense resulted in ranking 3rd in both yards and points allowed. If anybody was equipped to replace Vic Fangio, it was Pagano. As time has gone on, the bloom is off the rose.
Pagano is proving to be unequal to what Fangio was.
His passive coaching approach during games is bad enough. The Bears have a blitz percentage of 21.5%. That is the 4th-lowest in the entire NFL. Combine this with soft coverage by the cornerbacks and it’s little wonder the defense has often struggled to force more punts and produce more takeaways. Some stats surrounding his tenure are particularly damning.
In 2018, Fangio’s defense finished with 50 sacks and 27 interceptions. That is in 16 games. In the 31 games since then under Pagano, the Bears have 66 sacks and 20 interceptions. Eddie Jackson was an All-Pro with eight interceptions his first two years with Fangio. He has two since under Pagano including zero in his last 15 games. Khalil Mack, their superstar pass rusher, is in danger of finishing his second-straight year without double-digit sacks.
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Nothing about the past two years suggests the coordinator has gotten the most out of his players.
Chuck Pagano needs a big performance on Sunday
It seems every time his defense has run into a halfway decent offense lately, the Bears have struggled. The last time they ran into the Green Bay Packers, they gave up 34 points and it could’ve been a lot worse. A week after that Matthew Stafford hung 34 points on them again. Even Kirk Cousins and the Vikings put up 27 on them a couple of weeks ago.
People can blame injuries all they want. The reality is this defense is way too talented and way too highly-paid to be playing like this. Chuck Pagano should be on the hot seat going into Sunday. Green Bay’s offense is red hot. If the Bears want any hope of winning to make the playoffs, they need a big performance from the defense. If they don’t get it?
Then it’s time for Nagy to consider moving on.
Don’t forget he wasn’t afraid to shake up his offensive staff this past offseason. Rumors are he could do the same on the defensive side if he does indeed survive. Pagano is a good guy and not a bad coach. The problem is he feels too much like somebody afraid to attack, relying on his players to do the heavy lifting rather than getting the best from them.