CHICAGO (670 The Score) -- Bears coach Matt Nagy couldn't muster up any emotion after this one. He could hardly even find the words to describe it.
The Bears blew a 10-point lead in the final minutes and were stunned by the Lions in a 34-30 loss at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon. It marked the sixth straight defeat for Chicago and unlike those before, Nagy didn't sound frustrated afterward. He appeared to be a defeated man.
"That's a tough one," Nagy said.
For Nagy, the loss pushed him closer to the exit of his office as Bears head coach. His team has fallen so far that it can no longer be saved this season. Nagy isn't just on the hot seat. His firing could now come before the season ends.
The Bears had a golden opportunity to bounce back against the Lions, who just eight days earlier had fired coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn after a 41-25 loss to the Texans on Thanksgiving Day. That marked the same embarrassing score as in Chicago's defeat at Green Bay three days later.
The Lions seemed like a team ready to check out on the season, while the Bears spent the past week speaking of their belief in each other. Then this happened.
Leading 30-20 in the fourth quarter, the Bears failed to insert the dagger with a touchdown to put it away. The Bears then let Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford lead his team 96 yards for a touchdown to cut Detroit's deficit to 30-27 with 2:18 left. After that, Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky was stripped of the football deep in his own territory. The Lions recovered at the Bears' 7-yard line and pushed into the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:37 left, just 41 seconds after their previous score.
Trubisky and the Bears had one last chance to rally, but running back David Montgomery was stuffed on fourth-and-1 at the Lions' 20-yard line. The Bears walked off Soldier Field in disbelief.
"I was in shock because I felt like we were going to win that one," Trubisky said.
Days after Nagy called out the collective pride of his defense, it seemed that group has given up. That was what NBC analyst Tony Dungy said on the national television broadcast during Chicago's loss at Green Bay, a comment that irked the Bears and an assertion that they denied. But then Chicago's previously vaunted defense allowed a season-worst 460 yards of offense to Detroit. Stafford was 27-of-42 for 402 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
Nagy has often mentioned there would be a day when the Bears' offense bailed out the defense. That day wasn't Sunday, as the offense managed just seven points in the second half while punting three times, fumbling once and then turning it over on downs to end the game.
The Bears had 253 yards of offense and 23 points in the first half. They managed just 136 yards and one touchdown in the second half, leaving the door open for Stafford and the Lions.
"That one really hurts because everything was going the way we wanted it to go earlier," running back David Montgomery told reporters. "It hurt. But it’s all about staying together. That’s all you can do. Tough times don’t last, but tough people do."
Will Nagy be able to last?
With four games remaining in the regular season, an in-season coaching change is something for Bears chairman George McCaskey to consider. This ownership group has never made an in-season coaching change before -- not even in 2014, when the Bears became utterly dysfunctional under the watch of then-coach Marc Trestman.
Perhaps McCaskey has seen enough of the Bears lacking solutions and stacking losses. They're now tied for last place in the NFC North with the Lions, who showed some resilience late in their first game without Patricia.
Meanwhile, it seems Nagy has lost the Bears. He once spoke of being a complete football team, then tried to sell winning ugly to his players. This past week began with him calling out their pride.
The Bears responded with a loss so stunning that Nagy could hardly describe it -- if anybody is still listening.
"There's not a lot of words that can be said," Nagy said.
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.