In a team meeting Wednesday, Bears chairman George McCaskey told players and coaches that the report of Matt Nagy’s pending firing was not true, two sources confirmed to the Sun-Times.
His definitive statement in the meeting came 24 hours after a one-source report from Patch.com that said the Bears told Nagy they planned to fire him on Friday, regardless of the outcome of the team’s Thanksgiving game against the 0-9-1 Lions.
The Bears did not refute the report, publicly or privately, leaving Nagy to answer questions about his future. The coach said midday Tuesday that he hadn’t even had a conversation with his bosses during the week, much less was told, as the story claimed, that he would be fired. Telling a coach he would be fired in five days — and letting him coach in between — would have been highly unusual in the NFL world.
McCaskey held a press conference in January announcing that Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace would return, but hasn’t had another public press gathering since. The Bears have never fired a coach in the middle of the season.
Jason Lieser contributed to this report.
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