Following another ugly beatdown courtesy of the Packers, the Chicago Bears power structure is now squarely in the frying pan. Matt Nagy has seen his team lose five-straight. Ryan Pace’s roster seemed to openly give up in a critical game with the offense he put together continuing to look awful. A 5-1 record has turned into 5-6. One of the worst collapses this organization has seen in the Super Bowl era.

Fans have seen enough. The media are tired of covering such a boring team that never changes. At what point does George McCaskey decide enough is enough? Rumors persist the team chairman is angry and contemplating major changes to the organizational infrastructure. How far they go is the subject of debate. Will he tear it all down or will he do a half measure?

That second idea isn’t totally impossible.

Bears insider Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune indicated as much on his Bear Download podcast with colleague Dan Wiederer. The futures of Nagy and Pace are very much in danger. What isn’t certain is whether they’ll be kicked out together or if McCaskey might consider keeping one or the other. His assessment painted an interesting picture.

“You’ve got questions and they’re growing questions and they’re being magnified on a weekly basis about the GM and the head coach. You wonder are they a package deal? Are they tied together? Absolutely. Is there a chance both return? Neither return? One of them returns. I don’t know.

If one comes back and the other doesn’t, I think it would be Nagy staying with the Chicago Bears being in the hunt for a new general manager.”

This would be a rather fascinating development. Nagy is 25-18 as head coach. He’s yet to have a losing season with the Bears though that argument is in serious jeopardy. Wiederer also said the coach’s representatives will argue he was never part of the decision to draft Mitch Trubisky. He deserves a chance to pick his own QB.

Chicago Bears need to see the writing on the wall

This wouldn’t be a new occurrence in Bears history. They’ve established a reputation for keeping coaches and seeking new GMs before. Dick Jauron was retained in 2001 as Jerry Angelo replaced Mark Hatley atop the front office. Then 10 years later it was Angelo being kicked to the curb while Lovie Smith stayed behind to deal with Phil Emery. It should be pointed out neither scenario ended up working out.

So why bother keeping Nagy? Money would be a motivating factor. He still has two years left on his current contract. Pace only has one. With the pandemic squeezing their wallets, the organization may not be wild about hiring another coach while still having to pay his predecessor. Maybe giving the coach one more year wouldn’t be so bad.

Then again after watching Sunday night, it should be clear that’s a bad idea.

Anybody with half an eye could tell the team basically laid down for the Packers. The defense was railroaded for 34 points and gave up over 150 yards on the ground. The offense scored 10 points through the first three quarters. It looked like they basically gave up in the 4th quarter, which no doubt explained why Nagy went on a rant the next day about the guys having to show more heart.

It’s clear the Chicago Bears may have tuned their head coach out. His message just isn’t resonating with them anymore. This is often something that can happen with guys like him. What they call a player’s coach. The guys love him in the beginning but over time his inability to maintain team discipline and a certain amount of fear in guys leads to complacency and an eventual lack of effort.

That is where the Bears are.