Minneapolis is where Bears careers go to die.
Five years ago Saturday, general manager Phil Emery sat in a luxury box with bosses Virginia and George McCaskey and watched coach Marc Trestman lose to the Vikings to finish 5-11, the Bears’ worst record in 10 years. The next morning, both Emery and Trestman were fired.
On New Year’s Eve 2017, John Fox lost 23-10 in Minnesota — his 34th game in 48 tries as the Bears head coach — to finish 5-11. He held a terse 77-second press conference afterward and was fired the next morning.
There will be none of that this year. The Bears don’t figure to make any changes at the top of their organization in the wake of one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history. Rather, the team will rely on the relationship between general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy to examine the league’s second-worst offense — and find ways to fix it.
The day the Bears fired Fox, they bet big on their general manager, announcing a contract extension that ran through 2021. Pace and Nagy are each one year removed from being honored as the NFL’s top performers in their jobs.
While fan ire has turned to Pace this season — his decision to trade up for quarterback Mitch Trubisky rather than drafting stars Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson has never seemed more wrong —firing him makes little sense. In the last five years, only one GM has been fired with a better record over his final two years than what Pace will boast regardless of Sunday’s outcome in Minnesota. John Dorsey had 23 wins when the Chiefs fired him in 2017; Pace has 19 entering Sunday’s game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Pace and Nagy talk multiple times per day, every day.
“I appreciate that because, even going back to last year when things were really good, it was the same way and things didn’t change,” Nagy said. “This year, in some of the valleys that we’ve had, he’s been really good in regards to me, keeping me focused. And the positive energy, as much as I want to have it, he has it too.
“I think that’s very important — having a head coach and GM that are connected like that.”
They’ll need that connection to sort through their offensive issues, which start with — but aren’t limited to — Trubisky’s poor play. The offensive line play has struggled all year, and the Bears spent most of the season without a functional tight end.
“We felt like we set the foundation last year, so those conversations are easier,” Nagy said. “And then when you go into a year like this, and you have all those expectations and those intentions and you don’t reach them, you’re going to have tougher conversations.
“That’s where I go back to the relationship of honesty, putting egos aside and doing what’s best. I don’t foresee it being any tougher between us.”
The team’s foundation is still solid — “No doubt about it,” Nagy said.
The coach has been able to have honest conversations with his bosses ever since he interviewed at a Kansas City ballroom almost two years ago.
“There’s zero egos,” he said. “So when you have that and you get into these type of situations that we’re in right now — when there’s a lot of decisions that go on because we want to look for solutions — we put all the egos aside and we have honest discussions.
“And we talk through everything and for what’s best for the Chicago Bears and the football team. That’s what we’re going to do.”
