NEWSLETTER
When the Chicago Bears take the field on Sunday, they’ll be doing it without Matt Nagy on the sidelines.
The Bears announced Nagy will not coach the team on Sunday and will remain in COVID protocols. Nagy tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday after the team’s loss to the Buccaneers. The positive test came in the midst of what is now nine players, coaches, and staffers getting placement within the NFL’s COVID protocols. And because he hasn’t put up two negative tests at least 24 hours apart leading up to this week’s game against the 49ers, Nagy is ineligible to coach the team. In his place, Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor will serve as acting head coach.
For what it’s worth, Tabor has prior head-coaching experience under his belt. Tabor, who has been coaching the Bears’ special teams unit since 2018, was the head coach for NAIA’s Culver-Stockton College football team in 2001. In that season, Tabor led the Wildcats to a 6-5 record and a season that finished with the team setting school records for points, touchdowns, and total yards. Maybe Tabor can sprinkle whatever leftover magic dust he was using that season on the Bears ahead of tomorrow’s game.
So, if you’re curious to see how the Bears would look without Nagy coaching them up, tomorrow is your day. Although, I doubt anyone would have been predicting this would be the way in which Chicago brought in a new coach in the middle of a season.
