Friday came, and Friday went, and three days later, Matt Nagy still is employed by the Bears. A report from a Pulitzer-prize winning Chicago reporter indicated the Bears told Nagy last week they intended to fire the coach after the Thanksgiving Day game no matter the result.
Never mind that the team has never fired a coach in-season.
Bears chairman George McCaskey reportedly told players and coaches the report was false, and General Manager Ryan Pace publicly denied it.
On Monday, Nagy was ready to move on to the Cardinals, allowing only that he got messages of support from many friends over the weekend.
“They’ll let you know: ‘Hey, we got ya,’” Nagy said, via Patrick Finley of the Sun Times.
As tenuous as Nagy’s hold on his job appears, the Bears (4-7) are only one game behind the Vikings for the final playoff berth in the NFC. Chicago plays Minnesota twice in the final month.
Nagy and the Bears know exactly where they are and what they still have a chance to do despite a disappointing year thus far.
“This isn’t coach talk, but literally, we need to, let’s win this game — and then let’s get on a two-game winning streak,” Nagy said. “Let’s have a little streak here. If you go out and you play a great game, and you beat a great team like the Cardinals, what that can do for your confidence and your belief. And then all of that other stuff handles itself, because there are a lot of teams in that mix, and there are a lot of things we can’t control. What we can control is winning on Sunday.”