The Bears have never fired a coach in-season, and chairman George McCaskey is the latest to offer pushback on a report suggesting such a move was on tap.
In a meeting with players and coaches Wednesday, McCaskey said there is no truth to the report Matt Nagy will be fired after the team’s Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit, Dan Pompei of The Athletic tweets. This comes after a subsequent report indicated Nagy did not convey confidence about his rest-of-season status to the players.
[RELATED: Bears GM Ryan Pace Could Return In 2022]
While Nagy is undoubtedly on thin ice and almost certainly will not be back with the Bears next season, franchise precedent and the McCaskey comments point to the team keeping the fourth-year HC beyond Thanksgiving. A loss to the winless Lions, however, may change things for Bears ownership.
Losers of five straight for a second consecutive season, the Bears are 3-7 and again are having extensive issues on offense. They rank 31st in total offense, despite a two-pronged offseason effort to upgrade the quarterback position. Andy Dalton is set to start in place of an injured Justin Fields against the Lions. Among qualified QBs, Fields ranks last in QBR.
Nagy handed off play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor for a second straight season, but the pivot has not been as effective this year. As far as possible interim options, special teams coordinator Chris Tabor has been an NFL staffer since 2008 — including two Bears stints. Ex-Browns HC Mike Pettine is the only other staffer with head coaching experience, though he arrived only this year and serves as a senior defensive assistant alongside first-year DC Sean Desai in Chicago.
McCaskey’s doing what he always does- Soft soaps every situation with double talk and nonsense. They’re in this spot (the same spot they’ve been in for years) because he has absolutely no football smarts at all and continually hires the wrong people to run his show. Until he hires a true football man to replace Phillips, the nonsense will continue.
you know, you can put this to rest by just firing Nagy and Pace. no one will be mad but those two.
Dude how are you gonna do the same thing you did with Gase. People shouldn’t even be fans of this team because they literally don’t want to win.
What exactly did they do to Gase? I’m genuinely curious for your answer.
They’re just waiting too long and delaying an obvious parting of ways in the future
His seeing eye dog even bit him for making him watch this dung heap.
It’s a matter of when not if. Nagy is toast. The only questions are if they fire him in season to use weeks 16 and 17 to interview candidates (I’m guessing no, because that would be the smart move, and the Bears never make the smart move) and whether or not they fire Pace as well (guessing no, because again, they never do the smart thing).
I’m not sure that’s a smart move because you’re good coaches will be in the thick of a playoff race at that time and wouldn’t be able to interview…
There is a rule change effective this year that allows and even promotes interviewing head coaching candidates in season starting with the last two weeks of the season.
Outsider looking in here:
Pace has gotta go. Poor drafts, poor trades, poor decision making. They’ve spent so much on defense and nowhere else. Nagy may not be a bad coach but until there’s a more balanced roster you’ll never know. Fields has some promise but he’s at least a year away and that’s only if he gets an NFL quality line to sit behind.
The circus is in town, and the clown coach is about to stick his head in the lions mouth
Honestly Pettine was born for this team. That dude fires everyone up and the Bears are known historically for their defense. You already drafted a terrible QB and have decent players on defense so build around that.
Honestly if you think someone like Pettine is the answer than you are as bad as ownership and Mgmt themselves
Hopefully the Bears have learned a lesson here and stay away from hiring a guy who is suppose to be a QB guru in the future.
Definitely no guru there lol. Nagy is a 14yr old playing madden in his basement. Wondering why it doesn’t work with the NFL
38 you old life long bear fan. Sadly. Not old enough to remember 85. I worked for the bears for 10yrs. This franchise is completely screwed from top to bottom. That same level of ineptitude you see here in top is the same level of stupid you deal with at the bottom. Mccaskies have bee riding on the coat tails of papa bears name for a long time. Their time is up. They’ve ruined an original founding team of this league. Nothing they’ve done in any way shows you that they have any clue what day it is, what to do with a football team, how to change their underwear. This franchise will die with that wreched family.
Ahhhhh. The dreaded ” Vote of Confidence”. Next step, Sitting around in your boxers wondering where it all went wrong.