(670 The Score) After a once-promising era bottomed out this season, the Bears are cleaning house. They have fired general manager Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy, they announced Monday morning.
Pace was 48-65 in the regular season over seven years as the Bears’ chief football executive, a tenure that included zero playoff wins. Nagy was 34-31 in the regular season and 0-2 in the playoffs across four seasons in Chicago, with their final game came in the Bears' 31-17 loss to the Vikings on Sunday. That capped a 6-11 season for the Bears, who had a winning record only once in Nagy's four seasons leading the team and only once in Pace’s seven years at the helm.
Bears chairman George McCaskey will hold a Zoom press conference Monday at 1 p.m. to address the exits of Pace and Nagy.
The Bears hired Pace in January 2015 after he had spent his entire NFL career with the Saints, rising through the ranks and ultimately becoming their director of player personnel. His first major decision in Chicago was hiring John Fox as head coach. Pace’s first three years on the job were underscored by a painful roster rebuild while the Bears went 14-34. The team fired Fox after going 5-11 in 2017 while awarding Pace a contract extension.
In January 2018, Pace tabbed Nagy, who was previously the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, as his second head coaching hire. The Bears chose Nagy in large part because they believed he could foster the development of young quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, whom Pace traded up to select at No. 2 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft. It was a decision that would haunt Pace and the Bears, as the inconsistent Trubisky never established himself as a franchise quarterback and eventually left in free agency after the 2020 season.
The rise of Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs) and Deshaun Watson (Texans), a pair of quarterbacks drafted after Trubisky in 2017, also cast scrutiny on Pace and his failures in the scouting process as he continually made missteps in addressing the quarterback position. Ten quarterbacks started for the Bears during Pace’s seven-year tenure, which was in stark contrast to the rival Packers, who thrived throughout that stretch with reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers under center.
While Pace had a strong track record in the middle and late rounds of the NFL Draft, he had many high-profile misses at the top that hurt the Bears. Of Pace’s five first-round picks, only linebacker Roquan Smith (2018) and quarterback Justin Fields (2021) are currently on the Bears’ roster. Receiver Kevin White (2015), linebacker Leonard Floyd (2016) and Trubisky (2017) each lasted four seasons in Chicago.
The pinnacle of the Pace era came in 2018, when he was named the Sporting News Executive of the Year after the Bears won the NFC North crown by going 12-4 in the regular season. He was heralded for pulling off a blockbuster trade that September to acquire star pass rusher Khalil Mack from the Raiders in an exchange in which the Bears gave up two first-round picks. But the Bears failed to build upon that progress, going 22-27 in the three seasons since.
As has been the Bears' custom across their 102-year franchise history, they waited until season's end to fire their coach despite constant speculation regarding Nagy's job status earlier in the campaign. Hired by Chicago in 2018, Nagy was named the AP Coach of the Year after his first season, in which he led the Bears to a 12-4 mark in the regular season, the NFC North crown and their first playoff berth in eight years.
The division crown was an accomplishment that Nagy's predecessors Marc Trestman (2013-’14) and John Fox (2015-’17) failed to achieve. But the Bears then suffered a heartbreaking 16-15 loss to the Eagles in the wild-card round in January 2019, a game decided when kicker Cody Parkey missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt with a double-doink that bounced off the upright and crossbar.
The Bears entered 2019 with great expectations after their breakthrough first season under Nagy. They then lost 10-3 to the Packers in a much-anticipated NFL season opener at Soldier Field and went on to an 8-8 campaign, missing the playoffs in the process. Nagy went 1-7 against the rival Packers in his Bears tenure.
In 2020, the Bears created a quarterback competition between incumbent starter Mitchell Trubisky – the No. 2 overall pick in 2017 whom Nagy was hired to develop – and veteran Nick Foles, who was acquired by trade from the Jaguars. Trubisky won the starting job to open the season, but Nagy benched him in favor of Foles during the third quarter of the Bears’ third game, a comeback victory against the Falcons.
Neither Trubisky nor Foles proved to be the Bears’ answer in 2020, but Chicago managed to reach the expanded playoffs as the new No. 7 seed. It was an unfulfilling postseason appearance that ended with a 21-9 loss in New Orleans in the wild-card round. Still, Bears ownership opted to retain Nagy for a fourth season in 2021, citing his collaboration with Pace and his firm grasp on the team’s culture.
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The Bears made a bold move in late April by trading up to the No. 11 overall pick to select Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields. Nagy and Pace soon committed to a plan to start veteran quarterback Andy Dalton while developing the rookie Fields. That plan was thwarted two games into the regular season when Dalton suffered a knee injury on Sept. 19.
Fields made his first start a week later in Cleveland, where Nagy’s offense hit rock bottom. The Bears posted just 47 yards of offense in a 26-6 loss to the Browns on Sept. 26. Fields was sacked nine times, while Chicago recorded its second-fewest yards of offense in a single game in franchise history.
The Bears committed to the 22-year-old Fields as their permanent starting quarterback in early October, with Nagy tasked to oversee his development. Fields played in 12 games and started 10 of them while missing five contests due to injuries and COVID-19. He flashed promise while also being inconsistent, completing 58.9% of his passes for 1,870 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Fields had a 25.8 QBR, which ranked last among the 31 qualifying quarterbacks this season.
Ultimately, much of Nagy’s demise will be tied to his failure to lead the Bears to consistent offensive production. The Bears ranked ninth in scoring offense and 21st in yardage in 2018. They fell off significantly from there, ranking 29th in both categories in 2019. The Bears made mild improvements in 2020, ranking 22nd in scoring and 26th in yardage. Then came another disappointing output this season, with Nagy’s offense ranking 27th in scoring and 24th in yardage.
Nagy relinquished the Bears’ offensive play-calling duties in November 2020, allowing offensive coordinator Bill Lazor to instead call plays for the final seven games of the regular season. Nagy returned to the role in 2021 but lasted just three games before handing the responsibility back to Lazor.
The Bears averaged 21.3 points in 65 regular-season games coached by Nagy.
The 16th head coach in Bears history, Nagy recorded 34 wins, the sixth-most in franchise history behind George Halas (318), Mike Ditka (106), Lovie Smith (81), Dave Wannstedt (40) and Dick Jauron (35).
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.