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Is Matt Nagy’s seat getting warm?

Chicago’s offense, head coach Matt Nagy’s specialty, has regressed in year two of the system, so what does that mean for his future with the Bears?

Chicago Bears v Oakland Raiders Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images

For as sure that I was about the Chicago Bears defense not regressing at all under new defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano, I was equally as positive that their offense was going to take a step in production this season. I wasn’t looking for a Chiefs like explosion from this group, but there was no doubt in my mind that Mitchell Trubisky and company would be making small gains each week as they mastered the 202 version of the playbook.

But so far through five games this offense has regressed.

Whether you want to blame the offensive line, the quarterback play, the receivers, the play calling or the scheme, ultimately it’s on head coach Matt Nagy to get things figured out.

Chicago sports radio has been non-stop in complaining about Nagy every week this season. Even after their three wins Nagy has been drawing the ire form the hosts and callers too.

We’ve seen our fair share of negativity in our comment section about Nagy as well, and social media has been it’s usual hot take land mine. We even received a lengthy email from a long time reader chronicling all the failings from Nagy and the offense, not only for this year, but parts of last season as well.

With so much concern about Nagy being spewed on several outlets we wanted to check the pulse of our staff, so we posed the following question to them.

After the first five games of the season, is Matt Nagy’s seat starting to warm?

Some of you will think it’s preposterous to even consider a head coach that has been on the job for a year and five games to be on the hot seat, and to those of you that think that way, I agree.

Barring some sort of historic collapse from this team, there’s no way that Nagy’s seat is even remotely warm.

But our fans are growing unsatisfied with the direction of the franchise — something I’ll get into more in part 2 of this round-table — so after reading what our staffers have to say, be sure to let us know what you think in the comment section.

Bill Zimmerman - Matt Nagy’s seat is still a nice comfortable temperature. He won a division in his first year and while the team may not be playing at the level that Bears’ fans had hoped for, they are still 3-2, it’s not like they are 1-4. This conversation shouldn’t even start unless the Bears finish this season with a losing record and get out of the gate slowly in 2020.

For more from Bill, check out his latest Bears Banter Podcast!

Josh Sunderbruch - What? I mean, let’s forget for the moment that the Bears currently have a winning record this season. Nagy is the reigning coach of the year. He took the Bears to the playoffs for the first time since Charlie Sheen was fired from Two And a Half Men. Come on.

WhiskeyRanger - No. He’s still 15-6 with a playoff appearance. He’s already won more games than John Fox did in his 3 years here. His job is safe baring an epic collapse.

Jacob Infante - I wouldn’t say so. Nagy is coming off of a 12-4 season in which the Bears won the division, and he has helped shape a strong culture in the locker room. The team hasn’t lived up to expectations so far this year, and Nagy hasn’t been a great playcaller, but in no way do I see his job in jeopardy unless the Bears play at a similar level in 2020.

Patti Curl - When I was in high school, my friend had an old Volvo with a seat warmer. Every time I got shotgun I immediately pressed the seat warm button and eagerly awaited the joy of sitting in the literal lap of luxury. At times, I convinced myself I felt something, but I eventually came to terms with the fact that nothing was warming that cracked leather but my own body heat: the seat warmer was broken. Matt Nagy is sitting in that passenger seat. Y’all can push the button all you want. Nothing is happening.

Ken Mitchell - Not even the slightest little bit. You don’t go from beloved coach of the year to “run the bum out of town” within an organization by opening a season 3-2. What’s getting warm is Nagy’s temper, and it will be interesting to see if he’s willing to make some changes that I think everybody sees needs be made.

Robert Schmitz - No, it’s not. Matt Nagy took over a flagging 5-11 team last year and immediately won the NFC North while establishing a culture around the organization that players all over the NFL seem to notice. While he may have been overrated after his 12-4 season last year, five 2019 games and a 3-2 record isn’t near enough “disappointment” to warrant his firing. The offense certainly has things to fix, frankly I expect big changes after the bye week, but Matt Nagy is in no danger of losing his job.

Sam Householder - Uh no. He’s won more games, even with the postseason loss (which was the team’s first in eight seasons, by the way), than each of his two immediate predecessors did in more games. It’s ugly this year, but my goodness, you’re talking about a hot seat?

If you guys ask Sam really nicely, he might share with you his WCG-MA version of his answer to this question. Those of us on staff really enjoyed it.

Erik Christopher Duerrwaechter - Slightly. In one and a quarter seasons, Matt Nagy’s offense hasn’t progressed up to expectations. The seat may be warmer for OC Mark Helfrich and QB coach Dave Ragone, as Mitchell Trubisky hasn’t shown enough improvement entering his 3rd total season in the NFL. Make no mistake, Matt Nagy’s fate is directly in the hands of Trubisky’s success and/or failure. This is a team who’s entered into it’s championship window. There cannot be any further setbacks to this team; otherwise, Ryan Pace will have some tough decisions to make.

How the Hell is our resident Optimist Prime the only one that believes Nagy’s seat is starting to warm? We need a wellness check on ECD...

Poll

Is Matt Nagy’s seat starting to get warm?

This poll is closed

  • 70%
    No
    (927 votes)
  • 21%
    Slightly
    (286 votes)
  • 7%
    Yes
    (93 votes)
1306 votes total Vote Now