Matt Nagy appeared to be in a rather combative mood following the Chicago Bears’ win on Thanksgiving in Detroit. No doubt he didn’t have much love for the media due to what he’d gone through the previous 72 hours. A sequence that included fallout from the Baltimore loss, a report Bears players wanted him gone, and finally the Patch.com column indicating he would be fired after the Lions game.
This created chaos at Halas Hall, forcing George McCaskey to assure both Nagy and the locker room it wasn’t true. After all that, they had to play a football game. It wasn’t pretty but the Bears escaped with a 16-14 win. Their first since early October. Now they have 10 days to try and collect themselves before a brutal two-game battle against Arizona and Green Bay. As for Nagy, it appeared he had an agenda going into his day-after press conference.
It involved setting the record straight on the quarterback situation.
Many people have wondered if Nagy might decide to revert to his original plan to start Andy Dalton and bench Justin Fields. Especially after the veteran threw for 317 yards in Detroit. The head coach squashed that idea from the outset. He made it crystal clear that the moment Fields is deemed healthy enough to play from his rib injury, the starting job will be his.
Matt Nagy on the Bears QB situation, "When Justin (Fields) is healthy, he’s the starter. That keeps it pretty simple."
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) November 26, 2021
Subscribe to the BFR podcast and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
It didn’t stop there though. Nagy had a more interesting moment later in the press conference. Without being asked directly about it, he brought up another report that indicated he’d been pressured by team chairman George McCaskey to start Fields following the first game against Detroit in Week 4. It came from longtime Bears reporter Hub Arkush of Shaw Media. Nagy made it clear that it was completely false. Interesting that he’d single that out if nothing else.
Matt Nagy says I got it wrong, I say I got it right and guess who’s co-hosting with my buddy Campy from 2:00-6:00 at 670 The Score this afternoon. Join us for what just may be some must listen Bears talk!
— Hub Arkush (@Hub_Arkush) November 26, 2021
Matt Nagy is playing a fireman trying to douse too many flames
Every time he points the water hose and seems to get one fire under control, another pops up. This is usually how it looks when a head coach is on the hot seat. There is no doubt in the minds of anybody that Nagy is not going to survive 2021. While he may have avoided the ax following Thanksgiving, the odds of him coaching this team another year are all but dead. Only a miracle win streak to make the playoffs can save him now.
The guy is trying to make it seem like he has the situation under control. This despite mounting evidence the exact opposite is true. His house is burning down and there isn’t enough water to stop it. With so many credible insiders offering these reports, it is impossible to take Matt Nagy at his word. If not for the McCaskey family being so stubbornly traditional, he likely would’ve been fired already.
Six games remain.
That is how long he has left to either rewrite his story or make peace with the end of his run as a head coach. Word has persisted that ownership is already researching replacements. Combined with all these other rumors, the guy looks and feels like a dead man walking.
