It’s premature to say the demise of Pace and Nagy is fait accompli
If lastweek’s game against the Lionswas a must-win for the Bears— and that term is thrown around much too loosely— it’s difficult to come upwith the adjective to describe the significance of Sunday’s meeting with the Texans at Soldier Field.
Forget the Mitch Trubiskyversus-DeshaunWatson angle that, if both teamswere playingwell, would be at least interesting fromthe perspective of how badly the Bears bungled the 2017 draft. They blew that pick and will be haunted for Sundays indefinitely. It remains a head-scratcher asWatson had three times more experience playing in a better program while establishing a clearly higher floor.
General manager Ryan Pace can be dragged through the mud for the Trubisky pick, as hewas in December 2019 when the Bearswere preparing to ultimately be crushed at home by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. The NFL learned in 2018 that the Bears traded up to have their choice of quarterbacks the year before and got the wrong guy, even if Pace made a plea for patience after last season.
“I knoweverybodywants to make one person the villain,” Pace said. “It’s not all just one person’s fault. There’s a number of factors in play herewe’ve got to sort through.”
Factors holding back the Bears from success continue to multiply, and it is hard to fathom Chairman GeorgeMcCaskey leaning on Pace to lead the search for the next franchise quarterback.
Whether Pace and coachMattNagy are linked in that conversation is more complex and layered. Some maintain theGM and coach always should be a package deal, but it’s not always done thatway.
Nagywas vetting the 2017 quarterback class while employed as the offensive coordinator of the Chiefs. Hewas with the team that made a bold draft-day trade to selectMahomes. A case can be madeNagy picked his quarterback when he agreed to become the coach of the Bears, but he doesn’t have the selection of Trubisky on his resume.
Head coaches are evaluated based on their record and the trajectory of the organization, and with one-quarter of the season remaining, it’sworthwondering if Sunday’s game is the start of Nagy’s last stand. He faces aTexans team that firedGM/coach/offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien after a 0-4 start and has been somewhat better since.
TheTexans (4-8) enter with their best wide receiver, Will Fuller, and starting cornerback BradleyRoby out servingPED suspensions, and whileWatson still can light up the scoreboard, the defense is atrocious.
Whatever the level is above must-win describes this game forNagy and the Bears (5-7), who have lost six consecutive games for the first time since an eightgame losing streak in 2002. Nagy’s future is a hot-button topic, but it’s also more nuanced than a discussion of Pace’s tenure, which has been marred by missed opportunities in the draft and too many errors in free agency.
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 towalk away while owing them money for 24 months.
Surely the Bears do notwant to pay Nagy to go in the midst of a pandemic that has affected their bottom line with no guarantees there will be fans— or at least a capacity crowd— at Soldier Field for the beginning of the 2021 season. Some believe the general manager and coach always should be tied together, but the Bears and plenty of other teams have hired a personnel boss to come in and work with a coach already in place.
It might appear as ifNagy can’t fix what is wrong, and what is wrong started with what he does best on the offense. If he doesn’t have the solution to his specialty, what makes you believe he’s going to have the fix for the whole thing?
One can argue with convictionNagy was saddled with a bad quarterback and make a case he had only bad choices to consider as competition this offseason that led to the trade forNick Foles. Factor in a dilapidated offensive line and overrated skill-position players, and what has he really had towork with?
The crowd that expected aHalasHall housecleaningMonday in the aftermath of a blown 10-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Lionswas really something. That group either just started following the franchise or chose to ignore theway the Bears have done business. The reality is the Bears can look at the NFC playoff race and proclaim they’re still very much in the hunt it because the NFC is especiallywatered down.
Sure, the Bears appear hopeless and mired in a deep rut, but understand who we’re talking about, howthe franchise is run and that this team— as flawed as it was to begin the season— oncewas 5-1. This has turned into a train wreck or dumpster fire— use whatever GIF you want— but it’s not out of the realm of possibility the team pulls through.
If the Bears can beat the Texans— a big if considering theway the defense has faltered the last twoweeks— plenty will be at stake when they travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings nextweek. Itwould be easier to consider, if only more for a moment, some type of positive upswing to finish the strangest NFL season to date had the Bears finished off the Lions. No one will argue that, andmaybe they’re just playing out the string before wholesale changes happen.
Eventually some difficult questions will need to be answered, andMcCaskeywill need toweigh in on precisely howhe has evaluated the season and, more importantly, what his vision is for the future.
Why has the offense been mired in a multiyear slump? Why has the defense performed poorly of late? Howdoes he assess the state of the roster? What are his expectations for next year? And finally, who stays and who goes?