On a losing streak, Matt Nagy can’t afford one more
The McCaskeys have never fired a coach midseason, and don’t figure to do so this year. But if Bears head coach Matt Nagy wants to return next year, he needs to start stating his case Sunday.
Eight years ago next month, Phil Emery flew to Atlanta to interview offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell before the Seahawks’ playoff game against the Falcons.
Looking for Lovie Smith’s replacement, the former Bears general manager then whittled his list of head coaching candidates from 13 to three: Marc Trestman, who got the job; Bruce Arians, the reigning coach of the year after filling in during Chuck Pagano’s cancer treatments; and Bevell.
Bevell then flew to Chicago for his finalist interview with chairman George McCaskey, president Ted Phillips and Emery.
“Of all the interviews I did, it was the most thorough, it was the most intense,” Bevell said this week. “I mean, it was down to the minute of an itinerary. All the people were great that I was able to come into contact with; some of them have obviously changed since I was there. But it was a really thorough and well-done interview.”
Sunday, Bevell will have a say in whether McCaskey — and maybe Phillips, depending on whether the Bears decide to reassign him — have to dust off their job candidate itineraries. He’ll be on the opposite sideline at Soldier Field, making his debut as the Lions’ interim head coach after the team fired Matt Patricia last week.
The McCaskeys have never fired a coach midseason, and don’t figure to do so this year. But if Bears head coach Matt Nagy wants to return next year, he needs to start stating his case Sunday. To snap a five-game losing streak and make a playoff push over the season’s final month, his offense needs to finally show progress and his defense must return to form.
General manager Ryan Pace’s fate is even more perilous. Three of the next five teams the Bears play — including the Lions — are so bad that they’ve already fired their general managers during the season. What does it say if the Bears lose to them?
If McCaskey makes a change, he could examine the Bears’ corporate structure, and whether Phillips, who has a business background, should be the person to whom the next GM reports.
The last time he spoke publicly, in September before the season opener, McCaskey said he wanted to see improvement in 2020.
“Two years ago we made a great run, fell short,’ he said. “Last year we regressed. So we need to find out which team it is. Is it the team that took the NFL by storm two years ago or is it the team that fell back last year?”
The Bears are in the latter category. They’ll take the field Sunday having not won a game in 49 days. But losing to the Lions — against whom Nagy is undefeated — would rule out even the faintest hope of rallying during the final month of the season.
One sideline Sunday has nothing to lose. The other has everything. That puts the Bears in a dangerous spot. The two other NFL teams that fired their coaches this season won their next game. The Texans — next week’s opponent — and Falcons are a combined 8-5 since naming interims to replace winless coaches.
Even though they know what’s at stake, Nagy — who is 29th in EdjSports.com’s head coach rankings, based on analytics and in-game strategy — said the Bears won’t tense up Sunday.
“It stinks, it’s not fun … ” he said. “We’re not searching, per se. Our guys are actually pulling together and our guys are rallying around each other ... And I appreciate that from them. They know how much I respect them, they know how much I love them as people and players and we have each other’s back. And I think that’s really really important in times like this, is to know that we’re here for one another.”