With time ticking down in the 2020 season, two narratives have begun to emerge surrounding the Chicago Bears. Both of them involve what will happen after January 4th when the regular season ends. Either GM Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy will be fired together in a full-on housecleaning. Or one will be fired and the other kept. The most likely of that scenario being Pace goes and Nagy stays.
For some people, this is difficult to understand. Weren’t Pace and Nagy basically viewed as a package deal from the moment they came together? Now suddenly one guy might be able to save his job while the other takes the fall. Welcome to the realities of business in the NFL. Bears ownership isn’t exactly new to this way of thinking.
It happened with Dick Jauron. It happened with Lovie Smith.
Retaining head coaches while finding new general managers is not a new strategy for this organization. The idea they might keep Nagy is very real. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN already hinted at this earlier Saturday morning, stating the coach had strong communication with ownership and was respected inside the building.
Now Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune continues adding to this narrative with his recent column. While he made it abundantly clear that Pace is all but gone, he was insistent people not write off Nagy just yet.
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“Whether Pace and coach Matt Nagy are linked in that conversation is more complex and layered. Some maintain the GM and coach always should be a package deal, but it’s not always done that way.”
How can this be possible? Nagy has gone from 12-4 to 8-8 and is now likely to finish with a losing record barring a strong finish. The offense, which is supposed to be his specialty has looked atrocious for most of his time here. What could be holding ownership back from making a change? Sometimes the answer is the most practical. Money.
“Some sense the demise of Pace and Nagy is fait accompli, but it’s premature to make that judgment. Marc Trestman is the only coach the Bears have fired with two years remaining on his contract, so it’s not as if the organization has a history of paying guys to walk away while owing them money for 24 months.”
The pandemic could ironically rescue Matt Nagy
Money decides almost everything in the NFL. It’s incredibly ironic that Nagy’s constant complaining about how COVID-19 impacted this entire season might end up saving his job. Everybody knows the lack of fans in the stands will deliver a huge hit to league revenue. Enough to where a lot of teams won’t be thrilled with the idea of incurring a lot of dead money just to make guys go away.
It’s particularly bad for Chicago. Unlike other teams who have at least been allowed some fans at games, the Bears are among those who haven’t been allowed any at all because of the city restrictions. So their wallets are constricted even more than others. This could easily play into the Nagy decision. They’ll play it off, using Pace’s missteps at quarterback and the offensive line to give the coach the benefit of the doubt.
In reality? They’ll basically postpone his dismissal a year.
Nevermind the fact this strategy almost never works. It hasn’t in Chicago and plenty of other teams have seen it fail miserably as well. Just look at Adam Gase in New York for a reminder. Maybe the Bears will keep Matt Nagy. That will be their decision. It’s their money. Still, they have to ask an important question. Is that really what’s best for the team?