When House of Pain’s “Jump Around” played during the two-minute warning at Lambeau Field, Aaron Rodgers began to jump in the huddle. At the same time, the NBC telecast quickly panned over to Allen Robinson, who was on the bench and looked to be in deep thought.
The Packers had every reason to celebrate. They just embarrassed their divisional foe 41-25 in a nationally televised game on “Sunday Night Football” and were on their way to an 8-3 record. The Bears, however, were like Robinson, searching for answers in another disappointing season after they headed to their fifth-straight loss.
“I just think that right now, with our team, that this is the stuff through the season that you go through,” Matt Nagy said. “It’s about fighting adversity, it’s about building cultures and staying together. That’s where we’re at. So that’s what I do, that’s what our coaches do, that’s what our players do. We stay together, and we understand where we’re at and that when you have games like this, you’ve got to figure out, you’ve got to soul-search, and you’ve got to be able to stop the bleeding.”
Right now, the Bears may as well be the last man standing in a quads match on Call of Duty: Warzone, who is then sniped from across the map and is inevitably waiting to die and to join his fallen comrades in the next match lobby.
In other words, there is nothing Nagy can do to salvage this season or “to stop the bleeding.” He has switched his quarterbacks, relieved himself from play-calling duties, reshuffled the offensive line (multiple times) and has done all the “self-scouting” one could possibly do.
Even though Chicago is technically still in the hunt to make the playoffs at 5-6, making the postseason shouldn’t be on anybody’s mind. Instead, the focus for the Bears organization, specifically the McCaskey family, should be to assess what moves need to be made to fix the tribulations that are currently happening in Halas Hall.
Virginia McCaskey was “pissed off” after the Bears’ humiliating 55-14 loss to the Packers in 2014. As a result, general manager Phil Emery and coach Marc Trestman were fired. There is a good chance she has those same feelings right now.
Everything should be on the table for the Bears, and the organization should start by doing exactly what the Detroit Lions did two days ago: fire their general manager and head coach.
Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace’s time in Chicago needs to come to an end. Since Pace took over as GM in 2015, the Bears have had one winning season and have finished last in the NFC North three times and third once.
Nagy, on the other hand, has failed to establish any kind of offensive identity since he took over in 2018. Those that look to Nagy’s Coach of the Year award for validation that he is a good coach should also remember it was Vic Fangio’s historically great defense that fueled the Bears to 12 wins that season — not Nagy’s offense.
George McCaskey just has to ask himself this simple question: Do Pace and Nagy give the Bears the best chance to win?
The answer is obvious and can be seen in the decisions the two have made in the offseasons and on the field over the years. For a GM that once said, “I think it’s a good idea to add a quarterback every year,” Pace sure hasn’t lived up to that mentality. And when he has added quarterbacks, as Bears fans know, he has completely whiffed.
All George has to do is watch Patrick Mahomes continue to light up defenses on his way to a hall-of-fame career and compare that to every ill-advised throw Mitch Trubisky had made in the last four years to know Pace shouldn’t get another shot at drafting a quarterback.
The offenses’ ineptitude to do anything this season should be convincing enough for George to also know Nagy isn’t the answer. The 25 points scored in last night’s game was the third-highest for the Bears in 2020. Before the bye week, Chicago was held to 149 yards of total offense against the Vikings. And in Week 7 versus the Rams, the Bears didn’t score an offensive touchdown.
What more is there to see?
But even if Nagy and Pace are gone, there is no guarantee the Bears will hire the right replacements. Constantly firing and hiring new coaches and GMs will put Chicago in the exact spot they are now. There needs to be a new plan in place to carefully fill these important positions.
The plan can start by assessing what Ted Phillips’ responsibilities should be moving forward. Under Phillips, who was named team president and chief executive officer on February 10, 1999, the Bears have won three playoff games. He shouldn’t have much of a say as to who becomes the next GM and head coach.
Here is one way the duties can be split up, according to Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger.
This is it right here. Need a full restructure of the organization
Need a President of Football Operations with legitimate power to work alongside a GM. Can have one more focused on scouting and the other on everything else https://t.co/Ea2ky5d8pB
— Brad Spielberger (@PFF_Brad) November 30, 2020
It’s highly unlikely any changes are made during the season, but these are the discussions the Bears’ higher-ups should be having as the losses continue to pile on.
Maybe one day the Bears will be celebrating like Rodgers, but that will only happen once the right people are in place. And if history is any indicator, who knows when that will actually be.
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