Bears Effort and Attitude Come Down Strongly on Matt Nagy's Side
After plenty of Bears games Matt Nagy's play choices and offensive decisions left him open to scrutiny.
A 5-7 record after a 5-1 start definitely led to numerous calls for his job.
Yet, where it counts most Nagy's support remains questioned and the 36-7 win by the Bears over the Houston Texans at least gave some respite from the noise building outside Halas Hall's gates.
This all could change with a second loss to the Minnesota Vikings, because it could push the Bears to the very edge of playoff elimination.
"We want to play for him all the time," Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan said.
Players have never questioned his leadership, even if many of them live on social media as much as the next person.
"We don't pay that outside noise any attention," Trevathan said. "Stuff is going to get handled out there, but we know we've got to control what we can control, and that's winning games and the way we're playing and our effort.
"We're not worried about all of that stuff. That stuff will sort itself out. We just know that we like the man that's in charge, ahead of us, our head coach. So when we go out there, we've got to make him look good."
If all the criticism of Nagy through the losing streak caused Nagy to change his mental outlook, he hid it well.
"I mean, he's the same guy every day," defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend said. "He was the same guy in Week 1 and he was the same guy on the Zoom this morning watching the tape. I mean, he holds his coaches to high expectations, the same with the players. "You know that hasn't changed since Day 1. Obviously for you to worry about anything except the game coming up on Sunday you're really kind of wasting your time. And really that's how he's been. It's just next-game mentality for him."
Inside linebackers coach Mark DeLeone can vouch for the fact he remains the same going back beyond his time in Chicago when the two were together in Kansas City.
"Seven years of working with him from the first day I met him, whether it was being a quarterbacks coach, an offensive coordinator or head coach, he never changes," DeLeone said. "He's been the same person. He's consistent."
Whether coaches have still have players trying hard after extreme adversity often counts in their favor when job decisions are made, and in that case Nagy has this on his side. The blocking of wide receivers on Sunday in the win was a good gauge of effort, as they continued to try to help other receivers and backs despite not being involved in the play themselves.
The Texans Sunday were in direct contrast, a beaten-down team with nothing to play for and ready to fold it up for the year and a new coach.
Nagy recognized the efforts earlier this week and pointed them out, although not necessarily to support his own job security but to laud the approach of his coaches and players.
"I think that's the No. 1 thing is that for us is understanding that the three years that we've been doing this thing together, we've been through a lot," Nagy said. "We've been calloused in different ways. And yesterday for me, for our coaches and for our players was very important in the fact that regardless of who we're playing, when we're playing, or why we're playing, our guys came out and they played with a ton of energy and passion."
His focus remains where it was when the season started.
"Now here we are in a position, which is what we talked about this past week, of, hey, we're now in a position to where we need to do whatever we can to give ourselves an opportunity to get into the playoffs, however we do that," Nagy said. "And so that's what we're focused on right now."
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