(670 The Score) In a single play Sunday against the Vikings, the Bears reminded everyone why everything must change.
It came in the second quarter on fourth-and-1 at the Vikings’ 13-yard line, the 11th play of an efficient Bears drive featuring Andy Dalton’s short passes and David Montgomery’s hard runs.
Dalton lined up in the shotgun formation. Montgomery stood on the sideline, watching incredulously like the rest of us. Coach Matt Nagy called a pass play because, well, of course he did.
Predictably, pass protection broke down, the Vikings sacked Dalton for a five-yard loss and the Bears turned the ball over on downs. That audacious call from Nagy served as his classic goodbye letter, as if he sealed it with a kiss.
In case that example of poor judgment wasn’t convincing enough, a fourth-and-goal pass called from the 1 later in the third quarter – which resulted in another sack – added more evidence. Later, a 65-yard pick-six by Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson, on a third straight fourth-and-1 pass play by the Bears, removed any doubt about the absurdity that was the Nagy play-calling experience – and experiment. What a ridiculous lack of common sense.
Some guys never learn. And Nagy never really did.
The scheme that Nagy insisted was the star of his offense failed time and time and time again. The three fourth-down calls Sunday were all too familiar and way too cute, again.
Any coach’s top responsibility and No. 1 priority is putting players in the best position to succeed, and there were the Bears needing 36 inches, with Montgomery being replaced and Dalton taking the snap five yards deep, trying to outsmart the Vikings instead of out-tough them. There were the Bears later in the same game, after failing on the first fourth-and-1, calling another ill-fated pass. There were the Bears trying to look like the smartest team in the room again but resembling the dumbest.
When it comes to what’s wrong with the Bears, we've found the whys Nagy spent the past four years referencing. One wore a visor at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis during what was his 67th and final game as Bears head coach. The other sat in a booth, the same spot Bears general manager Ryan Pace occupied for the last game of the 2017 season that turned out to be coach John Fox’s finale too.
What GM gets to hire three head coaches in today’s NFL?
Like Fox did in ‘17, Nagy deserves to go after failing to fix a faulty offense he was hired to repair. So does Pace, who has been on the job longer despite owning a record under .500 and still looking for his first playoff victory. Both Nagy and Pace need to be shown the door at 1920 Football Drive. There's no distinguishing one from the other. It makes no sense for the Bears to spare Pace because of his role in renovating the football facility, not when he’s struggled so mightily building a playoff team.
The Bears could've justified firing both men at the end of the 2020 season but the pandemic offered an excuse to embrace the status quo, so they praised the ability of Pace and Nagy to collaborate. To separate the two now, a year later, would devalue anything Bears chairman George McCaskey says moving forward. Pace hired Nagy four years ago this week, they only grew closer during Nagy’s tenure and the Bears would be defying football logic by firing the coach but keeping the GM.
And yet, in league circles, that's the expectation. Most informed speculation predicts the Bears stopping short of a total overhaul. That would be so Bears. So bad. Sigh.
Soon enough, if they keep Pace while firing Nagy, that means McCaskey will try to defend the indefensible and explain the inexplicable. Reports that the Bears actually could promote Pace, allowing him to fall upward, only underscore the absurdity of the most disappointing franchise in Chicago. Pace put together a flawed roster with a bloated salary cap, swung and missed badly on every quarterback decision until Justin Fields – who has yet to remove doubt – and once had the audacity to suggest eccentric offensive line coach Juan Castillo was the top developer of talent in the NFL.
If that guy gets promoted and remains the Bears' top football executive, then they're putting an unnecessary cap on their potential.
For the record, the Bears blew a lead and lost 31-17 to the Vikings to finish 6-11, ending a slog of a season and second straight year in which they lost more games than they won. The word underachieving comes to mind. So do many other words, but they’re unprintable. The Bears threw 48 passes against the Vikings, in case anybody really, truly wondered if Nagy called the plays in his final game as head coach. Stubbornness isn’t one of Nagy’s strengths, by the way. Nor is innovation. It’s like he went through his entire play collection in October 2018 and spent the last three seasons recycling ideas.
It feels like the last time Nagy outsmarted anybody was in the interview room when he convinced Pace, McCaskey and president Ted Phillips the Bears should hire him.
After the finale, Nagy represented the team impressively, professionally putting his tenure into perspective without sounding like a guy drowning in self-pity. Nagy was reflective and sincere, mixing in humor with introspection, a consummate pro with affability galore. He comes across as the kind of likable guy you’d feel more comfortable sitting next to reading off a menu rather than a play sheet.
“I’ve never been in this position before," Nagy told reporters in an extended postgame press conference in Minneapolis. “I continue to go about business as normal … whatever is supposed to happen will happen.’’
Something must happen to effect change.
Clearly, the direction isn’t clear in Lake Forest. The arrow isn’t pointing up at Halas Hall. The football compass is broken.
And so begins the most significant offseason of this generation for the Bears. That’s not hyperbole. That’s how the McCaskeys must view the next several weeks and months.
A new era began at 3 p.m. Sunday as the Bears walked off the field to end another season fraught with disappointment and dysfunction.
By the time the Bears open the 2022 season, they likely will have announced plans to build their own stadium in Arlington Heights. Ideally, the head coach they hire in the next couple weeks will win consistently enough to still be around when the shiny, new facility opens in five years or so.
The Bears need to approach both the football and business decisions affecting their future as if they're franchise-altering, requiring strong foundations and solid organization. In the next few months, they must find a coach – and, frankly, a top executive – capable of winning a Super Bowl and outline details for building a stadium capable of hosting one.
Is it unrealistic to expect the Bears to put the franchise in position to have a Super Bowl-caliber team and facility by 2027? It shouldn’t be, not in Chicago.
The key is thinking big.
That means exploring the availability of the most impactful head coach possible, starting with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, a former Bears quarterback. Harbaugh possesses the ability to establish an identity the Bears lack, a 44-19 NFL regular-season record that includes winning an NFC title and a respect level that would help restore credibility to a franchise that badly needs it.
Find out how true the rumors are about Harbaugh telling recruits he’ll listen to NFL offers and act decisively before the Raiders and Dolphins do. See if bringing Vic Fangio, fired Sunday by the Broncos, back to town as defensive coordinator is possible. Make any scenario involving Harbaugh Plan A. Have contingency plans that prioritize experience and leadership, a list that includes highly regarded names such as Doug Pederson, Todd Bowles and Leslie Frazier. Keep an open mind to hotshot offensive coordinators like Byron Leftwich of the Buccaneers and Brian Daboll of the Bills, but remember what Nagy’s profile was when the Bears pried him away from the Chiefs.
Beyond those candidates, the most compelling reason to keep Pace would be if he somehow could lure Saints coach Sean Payton, Pace’s former colleague in New Orleans, to the Bears' sideline. But that possibility appears to be rooted in nothing more than rumor, like the pipe dream of Mike Tomlin or Kyle Shanahan unexpectedly entering the job market or any other unlikely hypothetical.
When you’re as bad as the Bears have become, entertaining fantasy usually beats confronting reality.
But, truth is, a once-proud organization 36 years removed from its only Super Bowl title must start over. Again.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-9 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on Twitter @DavidHaugh.