Even if the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers today at Soldiers Field, and make the playoffs they should fire Matt Nagy at the end of their season. Yes that means Nagy has led the Bears to the playoffs two out of three years as head coach of the Bears. During the last off season Nagy wanted a veteran quarterback, enters in Nick Foles. Nagy said it would be a competition for the starting quarterback position. Well with preseason cancelled due to Covid-19, Nagy had no games to base his decision on and decided on Mitchell Trubisky to be the starter and he included that he gave the Bears the best chance to win now.

Trubisky started off slow against the Detroit Lions in the first game of the year going into the fourth quarter down 23 to 6. Then Trubisky threw for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win 27 to 23. In week two against the New York Giants, Trubisky had a strong first half leading the Bears to a 17 to 0 lead at the half and then they hung on 17 to 13. In week 3 at the Atlanta Falcons Trubisky struggled throwing 13 completions out of 22 attempt’s for 128 yards and one touchdown while the team trailed 16-10 at the half.

Foles came in the second half after Trubisky threw a interception on the Bears first possession of the second half. Foles first possession also turned into a interception. The Bears trailed 26 to 10 at the end of the third quarter. But Foles had some magic in the fourth quarter throwing for three touchdown passes to lead the Bears to a 30 to 26 win. Later in the week he announced that Foles would be the starter from now on. The Bears had upcoming games against good defensive teams like the Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Los Angels Rams, to go along with playoff teams from last year New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans, Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers with Carolina Panthers and a bye week before Green Bay in that 9 week period.

Now I know what Nagy was looking for leadership at that time. When the Bears faced the Colts they had the second best defense in the league. Folk look rusty and the Bears lost 19 to 11. If it was not for a late touchdown pass by Folk to Allen Robison and a two point conversion with 1:35 left in the game the Bears offense looked inept. The next week Nick Folk took advantage of a turnovers by Tampa Bay especially near the end of the first half, right after the Bears just scored a touchdown to close the game 13 to 7. on Tampa Bay next possession they were trying to extend their lead, Tom Brady went back to pass and threw to Ke’Shawn Vaughn who was hit after he caught the ball from Kyle Fuller and fumbled the ball recovered by Robert Quinn. Four plays later the Bears Scored a touchdown to lead 14 to 13 at the half. The Bears still need a late field goal by Cairo Santos to win the game 20 to 19. Against the Carolina Panthers the Bears never trailed winning 23 to 16. The Bears defense won the game early with an interception by Tashaun Gipson Jr. at Carolina Panthers 8 yard Line. That led to a Cole Kmet touchdown reception. Again Nick Folk was inconsistent.

So the Bears stood 5-1 a top of the NFC North. But the there offense was not moving constantly. If not for the turnovers deep in opponent’s territory the offense in the last three weeks scored only 40 points. Now came MVP player Aaron Donald and the Rams. When you face a team that puts pressure on the quarterback you need a quarterback that can run. Foles cannot run. Foles was 28 out of 40 attempt’s with two interceptions and was sacked 4 times. The score looks a lot closer with Eddie Jackson fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the final score 24 to 10.

Another lost to New Orleans the following week this time in overtime. The Bears gave up a touchdown at the end of the second quarter for New Orleans to close the gap 13 to 10. The Saints scored 13 straight points in the second half to take a 10 point lead. Foles made another come back in the fourth quarter to tie the game. Nick Foles played better but had costly interception in the third quarter that led to field goal. Still to this point in the third quarter the Bears have been outscored 49 to 7. Only score in the third quarter was a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers. Coaches are suppose to make adjustments at halftime and to only have 1 touchdown in a quarter half way thru the season shows their not making proper adjustments.

Against the Tennessee Titans the defense did their part to keep the Bears in the game holding Derrick Henry to 68 yards rushing. Tennessee had 17 to 0 lead after three quarters. Nick Foles threw for two late fourth quarter touchdowns to end the game with Tennessee winning 24 to 17.

Now came the game that decided my mine about what the Bears should do about Nagy. The Minnesota Vikings came to Chicago and beat the bears 19 to 13, scoring the last 12 points of the game. The Bears only Touchdown came on the second half opening kickoff return to give the bears a 13 to 7 lead. The Bears did not have David Montgomery for the game with an injury. The Bears have had former all pro Lamar Miller on their practice squad for most of the season and they activated him for the game but he only got two touches all game. Here was an opportunity to see if he had anything left against a team that has struggled against the run. Instead you used Cordarrelle Patterson as the majority of the carries with 12. In my opinion Nagy is tricking himself instead of being the offensive guru he is suppose to be.

Then came the bye week and then the Bears defense was not ready for Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. The Packers scored touchdowns on five of their first six possession’s. Because of injuries Nagy had to go back to Trubisky at quarterback who did show his inconsistency throwing two interceptions to go with his three touchdowns, even though two were after Green Bay led by a score of 41 to 10.

Against the Lions the Bears had 10 point leads three times including in the fourth quarter. But the defense struggled again and the Lions scored two fourth quarter touchdowns to win the game. Before the Lions last touchdown to take the lead the Bears had three possession’s where they had a total of nine plays for a total of zero yards with two punts and and fumble lost, that led to Detroit game winning touchdown.

Now there on three game winning streak led by David Montgomery running and timely passing by Trubisky. Part of that is Matt Nagy has given up play calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. I really think that he still has input at what he wants the Bears offense is to do. Now they played three teams that are struggling defensively. Houston Texans, Minnesota, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bears established the run from Montgomery and then used timely passing to win. That what was lacking in the six game losing streak.

In the three years he has been the Bears Head Coach he has not changed the way he calls plays. He says that he will run the ball more but they did not start running the ball more till they changed play callers. The other major complaint I have is that after Foles replaced Trubisky in Atlanta he stuck with Foles even though they were going to go up against tougher defensive teams. When you are facing good pass rushing teams you need a mobile quarterback. Trubisky is more mobile than Foles.

And that’s the way I see it.

Patrick Delaney

Thanks to Kim Klement of USA Today Sports for Lamar Miller Picture.