CHICAGO -- Matt Nagy was called to the witness stand Monday afternoon, a co-defendant in the trial that has ruined Chicago's fall. The people versus the 2019 Bears season.
Specifically, Nagy was summoned to piece together the events of the afternoon of October 27th. On that otherwise beautiful day at Soldier Field, Nagy's Bears had battered the home crowd's spirit while inflicting damage to their own playoff chances.
They lost 17-16 to a below-average Chargers team thanks in big part to massive red-zone struggles, two fourth-quarter turnovers and a game-deciding field goal that was pulled far enough left to turn a must-have win into a perplexing loss.
Break out the yellow tape. Call the detectives.
Nagy had already been interrogated Sunday afternoon, pressed on his play-calling and decision-making as well as the continued failures of his offense. A day later, he was cross-examined in greater detail, presented with evidence of his team's transgressions and asked to explain it all.
That conservative and debatable kneel-down with 43 seconds remaining that prevented the Bears from shortening Eddy Pineiro's last-second 41-yard field-goal attempt?
"Zero reflection on saying I wish I would've done something (different) there," Nagy said. "I would do it again a thousand times."
That second-quarter first-and-goal slant throw to tight end Adam Shaheen from the 1-yard line? Might it have been better as a fade?
"It's a possibility," Nagy said.
And what about the need for quarterback Mitch Trubisky to become much more reliable at making plays?
"There's that balance of (patience)," Nagy said, "and when is it time where you want to start seeing that type of stuff. I think we're getting close to that (time). And he knows that."
For nearly a half-hour, Nagy offered all he could. He spoke with candor, named names when necessary and accepted responsibility for the team's three-game losing streak.
Even when the court offered him a chance to step down from the stand, the Bears coach waved off the bailiff and volunteered to take as many questions as there were. He went on for 10 more minutes and 14 more questions, vacillating from excitable to confident to agitated to determined.
Then he ended Monday's session with a blast of pure Nagy energy, proclaiming this is exactly the kind of adversity he relishes.
"You find out who's real and who's not real," Nagy said. "That's what I love about this. For me, I can handle things myself. I have that in me."
The 41-year-old Nagy, in his second season as an NFL head coach, made clear he won't hide from the ambush of criticism or the onslaught of pessimism.
"I kind of enjoy it," he said. "I don't want to lose, but it's like: 'Hey, let's go. You're going to be at a point now where you're going to test us? Let's roll. Let's stick together. Let's freaking go.' "
The resolve in Nagy's tone was undeniable, his competitive spirit impressive. Still, as the 2019 season has proved, that counts for only so much. Better results are needed. And soon.
So as Nagy attempts to rev his team back up with his personal blend of purpose, persistence and positivity, it remains to be seen whether the Bears will follow like William Wallace's men in the climactic scene of "Braveheart" or whether it will be more like one of those viral trust fall failures.
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Let's be clear. Nagy has never faced anything quite like this in his football life. Very little in his time as quarterback at the University of Delaware or with the New York Dragons and Columbus Destroyers in the Arena League or during assistant coaching stints with the Eagles and Chiefs could possibly expose him to the kind of pressure and vitriol that accompanies unfulfilled expectations in Chicago.
In a season in which they opened training camp with serious internal talk of winning the Super Bowl, the Bears just went 0-for-October. That hasn't happened since 2002, when they followed a surprising division championship with a 4-12 free fall.
This city is too scarred by letdowns like that not to have justifiable suspicions it has been bamboozled again.
Here in Week 9, the Bears are in last place in the NFC North and 2{ games behind in the wild-card hunt. Barring a major turnaround, they are in jeopardy of missing the playoffs for the 12th time in 13 seasons. In the post-Mike Ditka era, they have made consecutive playoff appearances only once, in 2005 and '06.
None of that history is all that relevant to Nagy, except that it changes the climate in which he must problem-solve. The angry masses are assembling, their displeasure amplifying.
If the Target in Lake Forest has a sale on earmuffs and blinders, Nagy would be wise to fill a shopping cart or two. The outside outrage isn't getting any quieter, with the harshest of doubters lambasting Nagy's play-calling, game management and a demeanor some perceive as cocksure.
After the 36-25 loss to the Saints in Week 7, Nagy acknowledged that time is of the essence and that a stay-the-course approach, emphasizing patience over urgency, can be dangerous.
"We've got to figure out how we turn this thing around," he said. "But you run out of time too. You know? So every week that goes by? Every week matters."
After Sunday's meltdown against the Chargers, Nagy again acknowledged the big-picture consequences.
"With every one that you keep losing, human nature is that it hurts all of us," he said. "It hurts everybody involved, everybody who likes the Chicago Bears or everybody who plays for the Bears. It pulls at you. I just need to make sure that I lead them the right way."
Nagy often references his time with the 2015 Chiefs, a group that went 42 days between its first and second victories but somehow rallied to turn a 1-5 start into an 11-5 playoff season.
"I've seen how it goes," Nagy said, "when you're resilient and you share resolve as a team and as a family. We understand that everybody outside (is upset). It's a frustrating time right now. You have to accept that. We accept it. But we can't dwell on it. We need to make sure we focus on _ as rough as three losses in a row is _ how do we rally?"
