The Bears have come up with a curious way of dealing with the report from a local Pulitzer winner that coach Matt Nagy is on his way out.
Beyond Nagy saying at his midweek press conference that the report that he’s been told he’ll be fired after today’s game at Detroit is “not accurate,” no one from the Bears has gone on the record to dispute it. Not chairman George McCaskey. Not team president Ted Phillips. Not G.M. Ryan Pace.
Instead, the Bears have leaked on multiple occasions the notion that the report is false. First, it was the report that McCaskey has told the players that the report is false. Now, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com says this: “George McCaskey and Ted Phillips both told [Nagy] this week’s report was a ‘complete lie,’ per sources. Nagy has not been told by anyone he’s being fired.”
That’s fine. But why not say it on the record? And why agree to push this stuff without insisting that someone go on the record?
If it’s truly a “complete lie,” why not say so? It’s a strange way of dealing with the situation. Indeed, while Nagy surely appreciates the private assurances he has received, he’d probably feel a little better about the situation if the Bears issued a clear and unequivocal statement about the situation.
As explained earlier, Bears fans will find out later today whether change is or isn’t coming. And it’s entirely possible that the initial report and the reaction to it has forced the Bears to abandon whatever plans they made have had to make a change after today’s game.