If you were looking for Matt Nagy to crack Monday — to battle with the media or finally throw Mitch Trubisky under the bus or just throw up his hands and declare in Ditka-like frustration, “We may not win another game” — you were in for a big disappointment.
The second-year Bears coach was typical Matt Nagy after hitting a low-point with a thud Sunday in a discouraging 36-25 loss to the Saints at Soldier Field. He was enthusiastic, composed, resolute, optimistic, defiant, realistic and as candid as he could be.
He doesn’t know why he only ran the ball seven times against the Saints — a franchise low. And he acknowledged reality in a way few coaches do when he dismissed Trubisky’s two touchdowns in a blow out. “To me, it’s garbage time and that’s not the mode we want to be in,” Nagy said. “I could care less about those stats at the end of the game.”
Matt Nagy turning down even a weak opportunity to prop up Trubisky? That’s another small indication that Nagy is watching the same game we are.
While all eyes are on Trubisky in these difficult times, it’s Nagy facing the most scrutiny with the Bears 3-3 and looking like they’re heading into the abyss after back-to-back losses. All the things he was hired to do have failed: Develop Trubisky. Build an offense. Win the game-day battle vs. defensive coordinators.
Now, his biggest strength as an NFL head coach – manager of people, leader of men — is under the microscope after fractures in the foundation seemed to show following the loss to the Saints. Running back Tarik Cohen and wide receiver Allen Robinson responded to critics on Twitter. The entire starting linebacking corps blew off post-game interviews. Cornerback Prince Amukamara — a team spokesman in that locker room — acknowledged the disappointment if not frustration of the defense when he said, “I feel like we’re losing our identity” after the game.
If getting Trubisky and the offense is Job One for Nagy, keeping his ship sailing straight ahead is Job 1A. When the offense is pulling the defense down like this one is, there’s always a risk of division. It’s human nature.
“I’m OK with frustration,” Nagy said. “I get frustrated. That’s natural. This isn’t where we want to be as an offense. So that’s natural. I’m not against that.
“But what happens now is when we’re all in our building and we’re together, they all understand that we all have to have accountability. They have to make plays, but you can’t start trying to take each other apart of any of that stuff. That’s not what we’re going to do.”
We’ll see about that. Five years ago, after the Bears’ reached a similar post-bye low-point in a 55-14 loss to the Packers, coach Marc Trestman said, ”I think this team and this locker room is in a good place at this time,” and was proven incredibly wrong. This team isn’t that. Nagy doesn’t have quite the character that he thinks — sorry, but five or more guys escaping the locker room after a bad loss is front-running and unprofessional — but he has enough to suit his purposes. The rest of this season will be a test of that.
“I have zero doubt in my mind with our team,” Nagy said. “There’s guys in this morning that don’t need to be here that are trying to get better. And I love that.
“I have ultimate trust — I really do — in who our players are as people, how they handle this. I know they’re going to lead each other. They’re allowed to have frustration after the game. If they don’t, it means they don’t care. So there’s frustration and there’s ways to help each other out. I’m curious to see who are going to be the leaders that step up and take this thing over. I know it’ll happen. But I’ll be curious to see who those people are.”
