Matt Nagy had two weeks to prepare. He knew the stakes going into Sunday night. The Chicago Bears had gone from 5-1 to 5-5 in the blink of an eye. A loss at Lambeau Field threatened to really start the ball rolling on him losing his job. He had to make sure his team came out prepared and properly revved up.
Then before he could really stop to take a breath, the Packers were up 27-3. Just like that. It was painfully apparent the team wasn’t ready. A troubling trend that has followed Nagy since he arrived, being 0-2 in previous games off a bye week. Though the Bears eventually made it 41-25, that was just more garbage time window dressing. It was a humiliation. Yet it wasn’t until the post-game press conference that the coach had his most disheartening moment.
Nagy sounded like a man praying to a higher power for solutions.
“We understand where we’re at and that when you have games like this, you’ve got to figure out, you’ve got to soul-search. And you’ve got to be able to stop the bleeding.”
For any Chicago Bulls fan out there, this quote will sound eerily familiar. That’s probably because the comment felt like a carbon copy of what former head coach Jim Boylen said all the time. Rather than talk about making adjustments and providing tangible answers to problems. He was hammer home comments about players have “spirit” or a “good soul.” All the while his team continues to get hammered on the court.
Subscribe to the BFR podcast and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Soul-searching was something Boylen brought up all the time. Especially after tough losses. It feels like this is the answer a head coach provides when he’s discovered he is in way over his head. Nagy appears to have reached that point with the Bears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHYAZ3-rjJA&ab_channel=ChicagoBears
Matt Nagy has lost something vital: the belief of his players
Former head coach Tony Dungy said during one point in the game that it seemed like the Bears defense gave up during a touchdown run by running back Jamaal Williams. It was a brutal play with multiple missed tackles. Nagy bristled at such an idea when asked about it after the game. He understandably refuted it. Yet the proof is in the pudding. Anybody who watched last night could see the reality.
The Bears defense laid down. They had no fight left in them. Aaron Rodgers was never touched despite two highly-paid pass rushers in Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn being on the field. Packers receivers were running open most of the night. Their running backs piled up 150 yards at 6.0 per carry. The defense gave up 41 points but it could’ve been way worse if Green Bay had kept their foot on the gas.
In all honesty, nobody should’ve been surprised.
That group had carried this team on its back all season with little to no help from an offense Matt Nagy himself put together going back three years. As the losses began to mount, one could feel the energy of the defense start to slacken. All it took was the right opponent to finally break the dam open. As always, Green Bay arrived at the perfect time.
This wasn’t quite as bad as 2014 with Marc Trestman, but that’s not saying much. Nagy is 1-5 against the Packers. If there is any stat that will get a head coach fired faster in Chicago, it’s that one. The 31st ranked offense is merely the gravy on the mashed potatoes. He just has no answers for what ails this team. Just as Boylen didn’t for the Bulls.