The Chicago Bears always have a loyal presence around the time of Halloween. Since fans love dressing up on game days, it makes total sense they’d love to do the same on the best costume holiday of the year. There is no shortage of options. Mike Ditka, Bill Swerski, George Halas, Jim McMahon, and Jay Cutler are one of several popular options. So what about Matt Nagy.
The current head coach of the Bears certainly has his own unique look from the bald head to the scruffy beard and trademark visor. Not a hard look to pull off. One can imagine more than a few fans embraced it back in 2018 when the team was rolling to a division title. Nowadays some people might be reluctant to try it.
Except for one industrious fan at least.
A photograph appeared on Twitter of a young man posing in his Nagy costume for Halloween. He has most of the keys nailed down. The Bears hoodie? Check. Facemask courtesy of COVID-19? Check. All good so far. This is where it gets particularly poignant and some might say a wee bit harsh.
In his hand, the young fan is holding a clipboard with a paper on it. In bold letters at the top, it read, “PLAYBOOK.” Below are listed four plays. Let’s just say they encapsulate to perfection what a lot of Bears nation is feeling about their head coach these days.
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https://twitter.com/SteezlyAdrian/status/1322669621221249024?fbclid=IwAR3JmSEbhI1RsZdwvdFHz3wI_FEKDigmzxXB8uHtANnYSNYdMwTalgpxeSc
Matt Nagy is losing believers by the day
How can that be? The man is 5-2 this season. He’s 25-14, the best record a Bears head coach has reached in the Super Bowl era. It can be difficult for some to understand why Nagy is getting so much heat from Bears fans. The simple answer is the argument that he isn’t the primary reason for that success.
Yes, Nagy is the head coach and deserves credit for the team’s accomplishments. Yet nobody would argue that a large bulk of those wins get credited to the presence of a top 10 defense. One that has kept this team in a ton of ballgames. Nagy himself admitted on more than one occasion he has little input on what happens with the defense. People know this. He was hired to run the team but also to fix the Bears’ perennially broken offense.
This he just hasn’t done.
The first two seasons in charge, Nagy’s offense ranked 21st and 29th respectively in the NFL. So far in 2020, it ranks 29th. There is no getting around the facts. His system has been a failure. Sure, not all of it is on him. Nobody would call the Bears the most talented offense in the world. Yet good offensive coaches find ways to get the most out of what they have.
Nagy hasn’t done this. His play calling, clock management, and personnel usage have all come under scrutiny at various points this year. That playbook piece of the fan’s costume is a perfect encapsulation of those criticisms. Another reminder that while Bears fans can be emotional, they’re also not stupid.