The reason surrounding Bears ILB Roquan Smith being a surprise scratch Sunday against the Vikings remains a frustrating mystery that appears to be no closer to resolution.
There have been rumors swirling on the Internet, including some “erratic behavior” throughout the week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter told ESPN Chicago. He also shot down a rumor that Smith was involved in a car crash. But the lack of clarity about the topic has only served to drive the conversation deeper into total speculation.
Bears coach Matt Nagy didn’t make things better during his Monday press conference. Nagy fielded a half-dozen or so questions regarding Smith, answering every question with “it’s a personal issue.”
Nagy’s insistence that “it’s a personal issue” is certainly troubling, as it would suggest that there’s a serious issue going on here. Although Smith is someone that has been a high-character guy, so you’d like to believe it’s not a legal thing, which Nagy declined to clarify.
It also makes you wonder if if was more of a staff decision or Smith’s decision. Although there might be one piece of evidence in between all of those “it’s a personal issue” remarks.
Nagy did break once in response to a question about Smith being inactive.
“It was just something that yesterday, it was a decision that we ended up making,” Nagy said. “We thought that was what we wanted to do at the time. Our guys handled it well. They handled it great. I thought [Nick Kwiatkoski] did a great job at responding to it. He stepped up and had a helluva game.”
That response would certainly indicate that the Bears made the decision, not Smith.
Again, Nagy would not commit to Smith traveling with the team when they head to London on Thursday, or whether he’ll play against the Raiders.
