Matt Nagy and the Chicago Bears had a tumultuous week both off and on the field, as the team played two games in five days. Less than 48 hours after losing to the Baltimore Ravens, there was buzz from a report that Nagy would be coaching his last game on Thanksgiving regardless of whether the Bears won or lost their matchup against the Detroit Lions.
That didn't happen. The Bears beat the Lions -- though they didn't play well in the victory -- and Nagy is still employed by the Bears. After the game, Nagy addressed his future in Chicago. The Bears head coach shared the whole sequence of events that created the hurdle he and his team faced over the last few days.
"Everybody understands with the distractions that we had, that we fought through it," Nagy said after Thursday's win. "So, there was a report that came out that was false and that's where it started. And then we had practice and we continued with our days. We had our practices like we normally would, and I cleared it up with the team.
"As I think everybody is aware, the next day (Bears Chairman) George (McCaskey) came in and had a good talk with the team and confirmed that that wasn't true. And then we went about our business."
During the win over the Lions, the Bears used the last 8:30 of game clock to drive down the field, which led to Cairo Santos' drilling a 28-yard field goal as time expired for a 16-14 victory. The Bears trailed the whole fourth quarter of the contest in an ugly affair, but earned the win on Thanksgiving to improve to 4-7 on the year -- snapping a five-game losing streak.
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The McCaskey family has never fired a coach midseason, as it has never happened in the 100-plus year history of the Bears. While Nagy said he didn't ask chairman George McCaskey to address the team regarding the report about his future, McCaskey decided to talk to the players anyway.
"For us, all the outside noise, all the stuff that's going on, nothing really came within the team," Bears quarterback Andy Dalton said. "For us, we put our head down and worked. We still had to prepare for a game. Everybody on the outside was more worried about all the external things where everyone on the inside was worried about winning a game. I think that was the important thing."
Nagy has experienced some trying times in 2021, as Chicago's season spiraled out of control with the five-game skid. That losing streak is behind Nagy and the Bears for now -- along with the questions about his immediate future.
"What I care about are these players and coaches. That's what I care about because they're the ones that are out there sacrificing all their time and energy to get this win. They deserve this," Nagy said. "When there's distractions, which is in every sport, in all facets of life – there's always going to be distractions. It's how you handle them. And again, we got the win today and it could've went a lot of different ways.
"But the reason why we got the win is because of how they handled the distractions. That's where to me, when you're in this business and
