(670 The Score) After another week spent debating Matt Nagy's issues as a game-planner and a play-caller, what really hurt the Bears on Sunday were issues relating to Matt Nagy the NFL head coach.
His team lost 26-23 in overtime on a blustery afternoon at Soldier Field after fighting back as much against its own lack of discipline as anything the visiting Saints were doing, and the sequence right out of the locker room to begin the third quarter was ugly on multiple levels. Too many mistakes happened that simply can't if the Bears want to compete at a higher level.
Leading 13-10 and receiving the kick, Cordarrelle Patterson's return made it out only to the 13. Nick Foles took a delay of game on third down after losing track of the time, and the ensuing play resulted in a sack and a loss of nine yards. Then a Patterson false start moved them back another five yards. The Saints drove for a game-tying field goal, and on the Bears' next possession, all hell broke loose.
Receiver Javon Wims decided to attack Saints safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson after a play, sneaking up from behind him and seemingly pantomiming a chain-snatch before punching him twice in the facemask. It was speculated to be in retaliation for something said previously to Bears teammate Anthony Miller after the whistle, but Wims' selfishness and lack of control -- deemed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and ejection -- brought the ball back to the Bears' 21, from where Foles promptly threw an interception that was converted into a go-ahead field goal.
Later, Nagy also seemed unsure of how he wanted to manage the clock late in regulation, working himself into needing a 51-yard field goal from Cairo Santos to stay viable.
What's more was the sight of top receiver Allen Robinson removing himself from the offensive gathering on the sideline, apparently to cool off by ranting to no one in particular. Other players see that, when a team leader walks away.
These are the head coaching things at which Nagy has proved largely adept to this point -- but now may be slipping. Credit him for smoothing over the animated disagreement with Foles regarding tempo against Tampa Bay and the Brian Griese talking-out-of-school controversy that raised questions about communication and awareness, but now he will be tested in holding the Bears together through yet another setback.
And it's crazy what we aren't talking about at the moment, after a makeshift offensive line held its own, the defense continued to keep the Bears competitive and the kicker is now almost a weapon instead of a liability.
However the play calls meet the confidence in the blocking and the skill set of the chosen quarterback, it's just not working right. Foles is making too many risky throws from unstable positions and seems incapable of avoiding sacks by throwing the ball away safely, playing a high-risk game that still has to be bailed out by a side of the ball that can only be asked to do so much.
That the Bears dug themselves out of a hole and made more of a game than expected after three quarters allowed us to have a surprisingly entertaining afternoon and a series of dramatic moments, but that can't be allowed to obscure the fact that they put themselves in that position, at home and right out of halftime.
Nagy's Bears had been 8-4 after losses during his tenure, a sign that he has had a way of keeping players focused and bought in, able to stay in the moment and not haunted by recent struggle.
Now they're 8-5.
Nagy may have been successful in quieting some of the discussion about whether he should be calling plays, but what looms now is more serious than that.
Dan Bernstein is the host of the Dan Bernstein Show on middays from 9 a.m. until noon on 670 The Score. You can follow him on Twitter @Dan_Bernstein.
