NEWSLETTER
Hey, yo, I’m definitely not here to share a report with you about how Matt Nagy is totally getting fired after coaching his next game. We did that dance, and whether the previous report was completely bogus or was fractionally accurate and something changed, Nagy was not fired. No one expects him to survive past this season – well, no one but Nagy, perhaps – but I won’t be pinning my hopes on any particular timing.
That said, I couldn’t not share something Adam Hoge just wrote on this subject:
The point is this: Sunday’s game at Lambeau isn’t just the most important game for Matt Nagy because it’s the next game on the schedule. It might as well be the only game left on the schedule. And it might be.
Maybe the Bears come to play and pull off a dramatic upset on national television. But if it goes the other way — the way it usually goes against the Packers — you have to wonder if a change could be made as soon as next week.
To be sure, Hoge is *not* reporting that Nagy’s been told he’s fired or anything quite as crazy as the previous report. Instead, Hoge, who is very plugged in, is simply suggesting that it’s possible that, for the first time in franchise history, the Chicago Bears could fire a head coach during the season. And, since it’s Hoge, I wanted to share it because I doubt very much he would be pulling this completely out of nowhere. It’s far more likely that he’s heard some things that indicate this outcome is, indeed, possible (and I wouldn’t blame him for stopping short of “reporting” it, given what happened a couple weeks ago).
Keep in mind, the Bears *DO* have an incentive to move on from Nagy sooner rather than later if it’s going to happen. Starting this season, teams can start interviewing head coaching candidates in Week 16, or just two weeks from now. So if you wanted to get a head start on your process, this week would be the time to do it. (Of course, we all know the problem there: if the Bears did want to start the process of finding Nagy’s replacement, who conducts that search? If it’s right now, it would pretty much have to be GM Ryan Pace. But, well, we’re not exactly sure we want Pace sticking around either, so … )
As Luis reminded me today, George McCaskey puts disproportionate weight on these Packers games, so that all tracks with what Hoge is saying, too. Of course, the Bears didn’t exactly clean up last year against the Packers when Nagy and GM Ryan Pace were already on the hot seat and it wound up not mattering.
Circling back to the beginning: I believe nothing. This could be the end of the Matt Nagy Era (well, we already view it as having ended, but this would make it official). Or it could not. Whatever. Just beat the Packers. But, you know, don’t use that as an excuse not to make changes.
