When Bears coach Matt Nagy poked his head in the defensive meeting room Wednesday as he does each week, he made a point to “clear the air” about his public criticism of the defense following the 41-25 loss to the Packers on Sunday.
But safety Tashaun Gipson wondered what all the fuss was about.
“Coach Nagy being the stand-up guy he is wanted people to understand ‘in no way, shape or form was I pointing the finger at anybody.’ He just wanted to clear the air for any confusion,” Gipson said. “It was something that probably didn’t need to be said, because guys probably didn’t even take offense to it. Nobody brought it up when we walked into the building. Nobody was saying anything. There weren’t any personal text messages, at least not to me.
“He didn’t have to do it, honestly, but he did it and moved on. It happened. Right now, we’re focused on Detroit.”
Nagy’s critique of the defense following the blowout loss drew a rebuke from critics outside of Halas Hall, because it came across as bad form from a head coach whose offense has been propped up by that very defense for nearly three seasons.
The Packers drove 75, 60 and 75 yards for touchdowns on their first three drives to put the Bears in an early 20-3 hole they never recovered from. The Packers rushed for 182 yards and passed for 211 in amassing 383 total yards against a Bears defense that came in ranked ninth in the NFL in total defense, sixth in points allowed.
Their pride was hurt more than anything Nagy said.
“Give Aaron Rodgers a lot of credit,” Gipson said, “but no quarterback, no offense in the National Football League should be able to have their way and impose their will like they did on us in front of a national audience. Whatever coach Nagy said, it probably was [blown] out of proportion. He holds these guys accountable. When you see the guys we have on defense, those things should not happen.
“I think everybody took it on the chin and took it for what it was. We needed to hear that. I think guys are understanding that, ‘Hey, we’ve got to play better no matter the circumstances. It’s not a he’s-calling-out-the-defense thing. It’s one of those things where he expects us to play better and it was flat-out embarrassing on our behalf.”
Nagy said Wednesday he had “zero concern” that his comments damaged the tight bond he has in his locker room. He addressed the situation with the defense to make sure.
“It was really good. It was really healthy,” Nagy said. “I appreciate how hard they’ve been working and for us as a team. I thought it was pretty good.”
Safety Eddie Jackson said he used Nagy’s criticism of the defense as motivation. “Coach Nagy’s not the type of person [who’s] going to bash somebody, throw somebody under the bus,” Jackson said. “I don’t feel like anyone took offense to it. We hold ourselves to a high standard … and so does coach. He sees that. So when he says something like that we take it as motivation — we’ve got to get back on track and fix what needs to be fixed.”
From Khalil Mack on down, the Bears’ defensive players were just as critical as Nagy was. They know how bad it looked.
“It’s tough, especially against a team like Green Bay,” Jackson said. “We know what it means. We know what it means to Chicago. We know what it means to the organization. So for us to go out there and play the type of game we did, it was embarrassing.
“So we’re feeding off that. We know the type of team, the type of players we have — especially on the defensive side of the ball. We know what we need to do this week — in practice and Sunday when the game comes.”
