One of the more persistent questions a lot of people have regarding the status of Matt Nagy and whether he’ll be fired is if that means Ryan Pace is out the door with him. That may sound unusual to outside people but it is a serious question. Reports have indicated for a long time that the McCaskey family is fond of the Chicago Bears GM. They feel he has the sort of character and leadership they like. He’s also had some success building the roster over the past few years.
Even so, would they dare allow him to hire a third head coach if Nagy is indeed gone after this season? That is something that just doesn’t happen in the NFL. Especially for a GM that has never won a playoff game. Let alone a Super Bowl. According to a source, the rumblings in Halas Hall is that Pace and Nagy are basically tied at the hip. If the head coach is indeed out at some point between now and January? The GM will follow.
So one can imagine the mood in that building is…tense.
The Bears are already 1-2 with both losses being ugly blowouts. Their offense is the worst in the NFL and prized 1st round pick Justin Fields got his brains beat in during his first start against Cleveland. Part of that was Nagy’s questionable scheme and part was the lackluster offensive line Pace had a direct hand in building. That makes the upcoming game against the Detroit Lions abnormally crucial.
A loss to their division rivals at home would not only drop the Bears to 1-3, but it would also have them staring down the barrel of Las Vegas, Green Bay, and Tampa Bay as their next three games. Most would expect them to end up 1-6 before the end of October. At such a point, there would be no escape for Nagy and Pace. While getting fired midseason is still unlikely, the belief is their fates will be sealed.
Ryan Pace has only himself to blame for this
If someone were to write out his epitaph once he’s gone? One can probably write two things down that ultimately sank his hopes of making this Bears team a champion. The decision to draft Mitch Trubisky in 2017 over Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes. An all-time blunder. Then there were his head coaching hires.
In 2015, he opted to go with longtime veteran John Fox. While the man had lots of experience, he was also fired despite having just gone 12-4 the previous year. Perhaps that should’ve been a red flag. In doing that, he missed out on chances to hire guys like Dan Quinn and Gary Kubiak. Both of them went to a Super Bowl over the next two years. Three years later, he got an opportunity to take a second swing.
He went with Matt Nagy.
A rather bold decision given the man had only been a coordinator for two years and didn’t call plays for most of that time. At the same time, Indianapolis ended up with Frank Reich who’d just won the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles. Nagy has gone on to one winning season and four years of atrocious offense. Ryan Pace just seems to always have the right idea but picking the wrong people to implement it.
How poetic would it be if he finally got the quarterback position right with Fields but won’t be around to see it to fruition? He has nobody to blame but himself for this.