The Chicago Bears haven’t made any definitive decisions regarding their head coach yet. They won’t either. Not until the regular season concludes on January 3rd. Until then Matt Nagy remains the head coach. That hasn’t stopped the speculation though. Plenty of insiders believe that barring a miracle run down the stretch, Nagy is out. In terms of replacements? The most popular name to this point is Pat Fitzgerald.
Both Albert Breer of the MMQB and Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network connected the Northwestern head coach to the Bears in the past few weeks. Belief is if he does jump to the NFL, it would only be for that job. Not only that but Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports claims the Bears have him at the top of their coach wishlist if Nagy is indeed gone.
There is evidence to suggest the team has kept a close eye on Fitzgerald.
Adam Hoge of NBC Sports Chicago reported the Bears had a representative at the Northwestern-Ohio State Big Ten championship game. No doubt to watch an array of eventual draft picks but one can bet they were evaluating the coaches as well. What they witnessed was a true gem out of Fitzgerald.
Despite facing a clearly superior Buckeyes team in terms of talent, the Wildcats played a tremendous game through the first three quarters. They held a 10-6 lead and gave projected top 5 quarterback Justin Fields fits all afternoon long. Sadly it just wasn’t enough. Ohio State finally found enough footing with their ground game in the 4th quarter and was able to survive 22-10.
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Nobody was fooled by the score. Fitzgerald had outcoached the Buckeyes. He just didn’t have enough talent to finish the job. This is why NFL teams are so interested in him.
#Bears among the teams with a scout at today’s Big Ten Championship Game between Northwestern and Ohio State.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) December 19, 2020
Pat Fitzgerald smoke is thick but is it real?
This isn’t the first game Bears representatives have attended. They were at the Northwestern-Wisconsin matchup back in November too. That was another masterfully-coached outing for Fitzgerald who saw his team smother the Badgers 17-7. Much of this can be chalked up to the Wildcats being in such close proximity out of Evanston. Still, it’s at least clear they’ve had eyes on him all year. Enough to justify where all the rumors are coming from.
What it comes down to is the man himself. Is Pat Fitzgerald actually interested in jumping to the NFL? He’s coached at Northwestern since 2006. One of the longest-tenured in college football. He hasn’t expressed any desire to move on publicly. However, some wonder if the allure of the Bears job combined with the departure of athletic director and good friend Jim Phillips might be enough to push him out the door.
Answers will arrive as early as Black Monday on January 4th.
The Bears play the biggest game of their season in Minnesota on Sunday. A loss would likely kill their lingering playoff hopes. A win would push them into Jacksonville next week, which should be another victory. That would set up a do-or-die rematch with the Packers at Soldier Field. At that point, the narrative around Nagy will likely have changed. On the other hand, a loss to the Vikings could really start the ball rolling towards change.
