Category: 2021 season

Why firing Matt Nagy was the right decision for Bears

The Bears have parted ways with Matt Nagy, which was the right call for a number of reasons.

After four years as head coach of the Chicago Bears, Matt Nagy was let go by the team. It was the right decision as the former Coach of the Year failed to meet expectations after receiving the award in 2018.

As a coach,  Nagy couldn’t decide on a starting quarterback. His offense also failed to deliver, and when it underachieved, he wrongly blamed his assistant coaches. By the end of his run, he had lost control of the team, as the Bears were committing more personal fouls than the NFL average. 

Here’s why the Bears made the right call in parting ways with Nagy:

Bears have fired Matt Nagy after 4 seasons

It’s official: The Bears are parting ways with Matt Nagy after four seasons.

The Chicago Bears have fired head coach Matt Nagy after four seasons, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

It was a move that many anticipated for the last couple of months, dating back to Thanksgiving, when speculation about Nagy’s immediate future dominated headlines.

But considering the organization has never fired a head coach in the middle of a season, it wasn’t a surprise that they waited until after Chicago’s Week 18 loss against the Minnesota Vikings to make it official.

It’s an outcome many wouldn’t have seen coming following Nagy’s impressive 2018 season where he led the Bears to a 12-4 record, their first NFC North title since 2008 and was named Coach of the Year.

Since then, Nagy has gone 22-27 and has two five-game losing streaks in consecutive seasons to his name. Chicago’s offense, which Nagy was brought in to revolutionize, had gotten progressively worse with each passing season.

Considering Nagy’s mishandling of hopeful franchise quarterback Justin Fields, it was clear that Nagy wasn’t the guy to develop Fields.

Nagy finishes his Bears career with a 34-33 record, including both of Chicago’s playoff losses.

Cowboys Wire’s 2021 Team Awards: Who is Dallas’ MVP?

What was the Cowboys’ play of the year? Who was the best position coach? Which linemen had the best seasons? The 2021 awards answer the important questions. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys concluded their regular season on Saturday night with a 51-26 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. The victory put their final record at 12-5, a far cry from 2020’s disappointing 6-10 record. The club has secured their first trip to the postseason since 2018 and while they’ve dealt with more than their fair share of injuries, it’s a far cry from what they endured the prior season.

Soon, all eyes will be set on the club’s home game at AT&T Stadium, but for now it’s fair to take a quick second and reflect over the performances from the 17-game regular season, the first of it’s kind in the NFL. Dallas’ roster proved to be one of the better in the league on both sides of the ball. The offense was expected, but the growth of the defense took a lot of people by surprise. The Cowboys spent the first half of the season without their best defender and ended up having two of the top-five candidates for league-wide player of the year.

It stands to reason the competition for intra-squad awards would be hot and heavy. Here’s a look at who the Cowboys Wire staff feels should take home various honors.

2021 NFL wild-card round schedule: Times, dates for Cowboys-49ers, 5 other matchups

A look at the wild-card round schedule and how things sit for the Dallas Cowboys’ first trip to the playoffs since 2018. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys have earned the No. 3 seed in the NFC and will face off against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC wild card. That game will take place on Sunday at 3:20 p.m. Central. The contest will be televised on CBS.

The game is of course part of the NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend, which for the first time ever will feature games across three different days of action. With seven teams making the dance in each conference, only the No. 1 seed gets a bye week now and the other 12 teams will all square off next weekend.

There will be two games on Saturday, a Sunday triple header and for the first time ever, a planned Monday Night Football matchup.

Here’s a look at the seeding in both the NFC and the AFC.

Studs and duds from Bears’ collapse vs. Vikings in season finale

The Bears blew a halftime lead against the Vikings in their finale. In the midst of the disaster, there were some standout performances.

The Chicago Bears’ 2021 season finally came to an end on Sunday, and given the craziness that has taken place over the last month and a half at Halas Hall, it could not have come any sooner.

The Bears took on the Minnesota Vikings in a game that meant nothing other than the fact that it’s likely the final game for both head coaches.

It was Nagy, however, who had the upper hand early as the Bears took a 14-3 lead into halftime. But things deteriorated quickly in the second half as Mike Zimmer’s Vikings scored 28 points to win 31-17.

It was a sloppy game filled with awful decision making, protection issues, and a second half collapse that would put to rest any lingering doubt of the changes that must be made this week.

But in the midst of this disaster, some players have actually stood out for having very solid performances. Here are the studs and duds for the final time this season.

Saints eliminated from playoff contention after Rams lose to 49ers

The Saints left with a win against Atlanta, but got no help from the Rams, whose loss to the 49ers eliminated them from playoff contention:

https://embed.sendtonews.com/oembed/?SC=J5eaRoYyni-1720910-7498&format=json&offsetx=0&offsety=0&floatwidth=400&floatposition=bottom-right&float=on

Well that’s disappointing. The New Orleans Saints took care of their business against the Atlanta Falcons, beating their little-brother rivals by a couple of scores (a 30-20 victory, to be clear), but they didn’t get any help from the drama queens out west.

It wasn’t enough to crush the Falcons. The Saints needed a Los Angeles Rams win over the San Francisco 49ers to qualify for the playoffs. And L.A. responded by blowing a 17-point lead and allowing the 49ers to take them to overtime. Matthew Stafford sealed it with an interception in their 27-24 loss.

You know, it was kind of on-brand for the Saints this year. They did enough to win and still lost due to factors outside their control — injuries, COVID-19 outbreaks, and another team’s shortcomings in tiebreaking procedures.

We don’t know for sure yet where the Saints will pick in the 2022 NFL draft (it could be as high as 16th, depending on which teams qualify for the AFC bracket). But that’s obviously not as pressing a concern. The fact that the Saints were able to end their season with a winning record and a comfortable victory over their oldest rival is impressive in its own right. Let’s see where they go next.

[lawrence-newsletter]

2021 NFL playoff schedule: Cowboys will host 49ers in wild-card round

Week 18 results are in and Dallas will start their quest for a sixth Lombardi trophy with a longtime rival. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Somehow it happened. After the Dallas Cowboys won their game on Saturday night, they had to wait on a series of results in order to see their NFC playoff seeding improve. They got two of them in the late afternoon window as the San Francisco 49ers came back from down 17-0 to defeat the Los Angeles Rams in overtime, 27-24.

Matthew Stafford threw an overtime interception to end the drama. Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks took care of business and defeated the Arizona Cardinals, 38-30.

Combined with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ win over the Carolina Panthers, Dallas finds themselves in the No. 3 seed of the NFC for the wild-card round. Their opponent? The red-hot 49ers who have won seven of their last nine contests.

San Francisco finished third in the NFC West, but the division has sent three teams to the playoffs once again.

Dallas will host the 49ers to renew one of the 1990s best playoff rivalries.

It will be the first time the two teams meet in the postseason since the 49ers won the NFC Championship, 38-28, following the 1994 season. That victory interrupted the Cowboys reign as Dallas was winning three out of four Super Bowls.

Dallas has won the last three meetings between the two clubs, including a late-season backup-QB matchup in 2020, 41-33.

[vertical-gallery id=690615][listicle id=690521][lawrence-newsletter]

Bears’ Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace left Minnesota together, perhaps for the final time

Watch Bears HC Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace collaborate for maybe the last time.

The Chicago Bears’ 2021 season has come to a merciful end, but the drama is only just beginning.

The team is expected to make some big potential changes within the front office, most noticeably with Matt Nagy’s impending firing. But general manager Ryan Pace’s future is more uncertain, as some believe he’ll remain with the organization and others think he’s gone with Nagy.

If this is indeed the last we’ve seen of Nagy and possibly Pace, they certainly went out with a whimper as the Bears collapsed in the second half in a 31-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune shared a video of Nagy and Pace walking out of U.S. Bank Stadium together, perhaps for the final time. They were two of the final Bears staff members to exit the stadium.

Nagy is expected to be fired as soon as Monday morning, although it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Bears dragged things out until holding a press conference on Tuesday.

Pace’s fate is the more intriguing question at the moment, as there’s an argument to be made for both firing and keeping him. There’s been speculation that Pace could even be promoted to head of football operations while bringing in a new GM.

But considering how Chairman George McCaskey and President/CEO Ted Phillips preached the importance of collaboration, especially with Pace and Nagy, they’d have a hard time justifying firing Nagy and then keeping Pace, who’s only had one winning season in seven years.

[listicle id=494132]

Bears fans showed Matt Nagy the door following second-half collapse vs. Vikings

Bears fans are officially done with the Matt Nagy era.

Matt Nagy’s final game as head coach of the Chicago Bears — a 31-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings — was a fitting tribute to everything that’s gone right and wrong during his four-year tenure.

The Bears benefited from strong defense and failed to take advantage on offense in the first half, carrying a 14-3 lead heading into the third quarter. But it was a completely different game in the second half as Chicago collapsed and was outscored 28-3.

Nagy made some questionable and infuriating decisions, including failing to hand the ball to running back David Montgomery on fourth-and-1 on three separate occasions. It was a trademark of the things Bears fans have come to know well about Nagy: the offense struggled, the quarterback especially, and he ignored the run game when it mattered.

As everything collapsed around the end of Chicago’s finale against Minnesota, Bears fans were more than ready to show Nagy the door and move forward with a new head coach, yet to be determined.

Vikings 31, Bears 17: Everything we know about Matt Nagy’s final game

In the final game of the 2021 season, the Chicago Bears lost 31-17 to the Minnesota Vikings.

The Chicago Bears suffered a brutal 31-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in their season finale, where they officially finish the season 6-11. After taking a 14-3 lead into halftime, things fell apart in the second half, which was a fitting way to end the Matt Nagy era.

With this most likely being Nagy’s final game as Chicago’s head coach, fans were impressed with how the first half went. But the second-half collapse, giving up 28 unanswered points, was surprising and it also wasn’t.

Let’s take a look at everything we know about Chicago’s Week 18 loss.