Matt Nagy isn’t Going Anywhere; R-E-L-A-X
Matt Nagy isn’t Going Anywhere; R-E-L-A-X
The Chicago Bears lost their first game of the 2020 season this past Sunday to the Indianapolis Colts by a score of 19-11. Despite the eight-point differential, this score makes the game appear closer than it actually was. Chicago did not earn its first touchdown until “garbage time,” when the Bears were down 19-3 with just over a minute and a half to play when Nick Foles finally connected with Allen Robinson for a 16-yard touchdown pass. Chicago would get the 2-point conversion before missing the onside kick recovery.
While this serves as the Bears’ first loss of the season which dropped them to a 3-1 record on the season, you would think the team was 0-4 the way Chicago social media has reacted. Ever since the conclusion on Sunday’s game, I have seen articles surface questioning whether Matt Nagy is going to make it through the 2020 season as the Bears head coach, and I can no longer sit idly by.
Enough is enough, Chicago, let’s think rationally here.
Nick Foles did not look good on Sunday after what he did a week ago. His stat line of 26/42 with 249 yds featuring 1 TD and 1 INT is not great, and I know it looks bad that this was the guy Nagy wanted and got this past offseason. Asking him and Nagy to connect and be 100% in complete sync in their first start together against the #1 ranked defense in the NFL is a little much, and it is a typical Chicago overreaction to start questioning a coach who just two seasons ago was the NFL coach of the year award winner. Comparing what Foles did last week against Atlanta to what he did this week against Indianapolis is ridiculous. The Atlanta Falcons defense is not good. It just isn’t. Nick Foles came in and did exactly what an average quarterback is supposed to do against a lousy defense. That being said, Nagy’s offense had to go from playing the league’s worst defense to playing it’s best in just seven days with a transition in the game’s most important position.
The NFL is a week-by-week league. Anything can happen any given week, and knowing this, Matt Nagy will adjust this offense the way he needs to. We need to realize that he’s just getting to experiment with his entire playbook now. I like to consider myself a huge Trubisky fan, and while I question the move to bench him so early in the season, I don’t doubt that Nagy will do what needs to be done to get this team moving in the right direction. Yes, the play calling can be better. Yes, the chances we get need to be capitalized on better. These are growing pains. Foles did not get a preseason to work with Nagy. He stepped into a role in Atlanta and found lightning in a bottle. I will happily take a 3-1 record to start this season which featured no OTA’s or preseason.
Calling for Matt Nagy’s job when he currently boasts a 23-13 (.639%) regular season record is laughable after the last two coaches to helm the Bears, Marc Trestman 13-19 (.406%) and John Fox 14-34 (.280%) sank this organization for most of the 2010’s. I realize being in a division that features Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers; the bar is a little higher, but let’s not forget that both the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions are 1-3. This team is fine. One eight-point loss to the league’s best defense is not enough to call for Nagy’s job. Sorry Chicago, you need to take a breather on this one.
The offense will have a short week to turn things around with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming to Soldier Field this Thursday night, and I am sure Bears Twitter will be all over the team again. The Chicago Bears (3-1) will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1) in a Thursday Night Football, 8:20pm EST prime time matchup on FOX to begin Week 5.
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