Matt Nagy celebrated his 20th victory in his two seasons as head coach of the Chicago Bears following Sunday’s season-finale victory over the Minnesota Vikings. But it was an accomplishment that felt hollow considering the disappointing season his team had in 2019.
While many teams are clearing house on this day we affectionately refer to as Black Monday, Nagy won’t be among those head coaches out of a job. In two seasons as Bears coach, Nagy has amassed a 20-13 record (including the postseason), and he hasn’t had a losing season.
But next season? All bets are off. If Nagy can’t find a way to get his team back on a playoff track, one year from now he could very well be out of a job.
According to NFL Insider Jason LaCanfora, Nagy is already on the hot seat heading into 2020:
The honeymoon is over for GM Ryan Pace, coach Matt Nagy and recent second-overall pick Mitchell Trubisky. Their playoff run seems like a looong time ago and they’d best find a semblance of a running game and offensive identity in 2020 or they’re all going to be gone. They’d best find a legit starting option to push Trubisky and should probably let him run around more next year. Can they find a run game? Is the defense regressing from its heights under Vic Fangio? Ownership is super high on Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, who has been turning down NFL teams for years but wouldn’t have to sell his house to coach the Bears. If Ron Rivera doesn’t find the right spot this year, returning to the Bears, where he played, would also seem like a no brainer.
The complaint about Nagy has been less about his head coaching ability and more about how he’s handled the offense. Nagy would serve to take a step back from the offense — let Mark Helfrich or whoever will serve as Chicago’s offensive coordinator in 2020 — and let someone else call the plays. That way Nagy’s focus would be more on the team than just most on the offense.
Nagy has certainly earned himself another season to right the ship in Chicago. But given what he was able to accomplish in 2018 and then followed up with in 2019, a repeat performance of this past season shouldn’t be tolerated.
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