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4 reasons why the Bears should fire Matt Nagy mid-season

There was a ton of excitement surrounding the hiring of Bears head coach Matt Nagy in 2018. But following a 12-4 season, he followed it up with three straight disappointing seasons, which has many believing that it’s not a matter of if but when Nagy gets the axe in Chicago.

Nagy remains the head coach of the Bears, at least for right now, even amid speculation about his future and whether he’ll survive the 2021 season. The Bears have never fired a head coach mid-season, although there are reasons for why they should change that before season’s end.

Here are four reasons why the Bears should consider firing Nagy before the end of the season.

For Justin Fields' sake

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The most important thing for the Bears right now is the development of rookie quarterback Justin Fields, and it’s clear Nagy isn’t the guy to develop him. You could even argue that Nagy has been detrimental to Fields’ growth, whether it was refusing to give him a chance to win the starting job or the dangerous game plan against the Browns or Nagy’s insistent dedication to Andy Dalton as the starter, even after Fields had a couple of starts under his belt. At this point, you don’t want Nagy to have continued exposure with Fields, where there are still six games for Fields to develop in his rookie season before a new coaching staff is in place.

To get a head start on new coaching search

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The Bears have never fired a head coach mid-season before, and usually there’s no added benefit of doing such given coaching searches can’t begin until after the season. But a new NFL rule has changed things as teams can now begin interviewing a head coaching candidate during the last two weeks of the regular season, that is assuming the head coach that started the season is no longer employed by the franchise. So while the Bears haven’t fired a head coach during the season — heck, even Marc Trestman survived until season’s end — there’s added incentive for them to change that.

We’ve seen all we need to see from Nagy

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The simple fact of the matter is that we’ve seen everything we need to in regards to Nagy, whether that’s his ability as a head coach or an offensive play caller, to know he’s not the one. There’s nothing Nagy can do, short of a miracle, that will save his job heading into 2022. While ownership clung to how the Bears bounced back from a six-game losing streak to make the playoffs, the team’s second straight five-game losing streak is brutal. And ownership demanded progress from the previous season, which there hasn’t been any. In fact, it’s gotten worse, and that’s with the upgrades at quarterback.

Things have gotten ugly

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It was a whirlwind of a week at Halas Hall for the Bears, who were coming off their fifth straight loss on a short week ahead of a Thanksgiving showdown against the winless Lions. But they were the talk of the football world for a different reason, which involved Nagy’s immediate future. Rumors of players wanting Nagy gone and that Nagy would be fired after Chicago’s Thanksgiving game were a distraction, but the Bears still managed to squeak out a close victory over the Lions on a last-second Cairo Santos field goal. But aside from that, things have gotten ugly on the fan side. “Fire Nagy” chants have been heard everywhere from Soldier Field to Bulls and Blackhawks games and even to, unfortunately, Nagy’s son’s high school football game. Fans have made their feelings about Nagy clear, and it won’t stop until Nagy is gone.

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