NAGY DENIES REPORT BEARS FIRED HIM
Who coaches the Chicago Bears after Thursday seems to be the bigger topic now than who their starting quarterback will be this week.
Bears coach Matt Nagy said Tuesday Andy Dalton will start against the Detroit Lions for injured Justin Fields, then spent half of his press conference dealing with a report saying he has been told he will no longer coach the Bears after Thursday’s game.
“That is not accurate,” Nagy said of the report, which appeared on Patch.com.
The Bears have lost five straight and for three straight years have had losing streaks of four games or more. So Nagy’s job status going forward has been a hot debate throughout Chicago. Chants of “Fire Nagy,” were heard at times in Soldier Field during Sunday’s 16-13 loss to Baltimore — and even at the United Center during a Chicago Bulls game.
The report about the firing was by Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Konkol, a former news reporter for the Chicago SunTimes. It did not indicate a source. Nagy said he normally talks on a regular basis with team General Manager Ryan
Pace, President Ted Phillips and board Chairman George McCaskey, but not this week as there were no meetings scheduled.
“We have constant communication,” Nagy said. “I always think it’s good and healthy and so we stayed on course. With the bye week and then with the short turnaround and with game prep, we have not (talked).”
The Bears have never fired a coach during midseason.
Bears safety Tashaun Gipson said support for Nagy remains high within the team even during the losing streak
and in the midst of a 3-7 season.
“I know what a losing locker room is like, and this is not that,” Gipson said. “I know our record indicates that a lot of guys may be willing to check out, but that’s not the energy, that’s not the atmosphere that I sense here.”
Dalton went through several years when such rumors haunted the Cincinnati Bengals about former coach Marvin Lewis, and often they proved untrue.
“I think there are rumors all over the place about a lot of different things at different times,” he said. “And as a locker room, you don’t worry about that. There are so many other things you have to worry about.”
Dalton could have the benefit of wide receiver Allen Robinson in the lineup Thursday after he missed the last game with a hamstring injury, although Robinson did not practice Monday or Tuesday.
“I’m getting better,” Robinson said. “You know, there’s been constant improvement since I got hurt against Pittsburgh. Now I’m continuing to push through and trying to do what I need to do to make myself available. That’s always my No. 1 priority is being out on the grass.”
Like Gipson, Robinson has been with plenty of losing teams in the past and sees this one as united behind Nagy, if not trying to win one for him.
“You have to respect him as a person,” Robinson said. “Besides football and putting everything aside, there’s a respect factor there.
“When the term ‘playing for your coach’s job’ (comes up), it’s just respecting your coach and respecting what he has going on, and for guys to continue to be pros.”