(670 The Score) A day after he initially defended his decision to punt on a key fourth-and-1 situation in the fourth quarter of an eventual 45-30 loss to the Packers, Bears coach Matt Nagy on Monday expressed regret in his choice.
Nagy instructed the Bears to punt on fourth-and-1 from their own 36-yard line while trailing 38-27 with 13:31 remaining Sunday at Lambeau Field. The Packers then followed with a 13-play touchdown drive that ate up 8 minutes, 38 seconds and sealed the victory.
"When you look back and you see what happens, when they go on that long drive and they take up the clock and score, you wish you would've went for it," Nagy said Monday afternoon. "That's the part where you look back as a coach and you go, 'Damn, that would've been a time to do that.' At the same point in time, we were just coming off a three-and-out. We stopped them three-and-out the previous possession. So I just thought in that scenario – but it obviously backfired."
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Late Sunday night, Nagy didn't express regret when first asked about the conservative game management.
"Thought about it," Nagy said. "I don't think you're wrong if you go for it, but I don't think you're wrong if you punted."
The Bears (4-9) were officially eliminated from NFC North title contention with their loss Sunday, after which further doubt grew about the future of Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace. The Bears host the Vikings (6-7) next Monday night at Soldier Field.
