2020 Season recap

    Another year, another let down by the Bears, even when they finished the season 8-8 to make the playoffs as the last wildcard, they ultimately lost by scoring only 9 points, keeping the offensive struggles going against good teams with winning records and this looks to continue with the departure of some players of key positions and retaining personnel that might not be in the best interest of the future of this team but rather themselves.

   With the news that Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy are coming back for another try at fixing this team next season, I look back at what I thought of how the team was at the half point of the season and cant say it got worse but it wasn't because of Nagy or Pace. At one point moves were finally made to try and improve the Oline and Nagy supposedly gave Bill Lazor the play calling duties, things got a bit better and they started winning against bottom of the barrel teams, but you can't give them the pat on the back and congratulate them because of decisions that needed to happen way sooner. I still think Nagy is more to blame for the mess that it was this season, but Pace doesn't get a break from this either, signing Germain Ifedi and Jason Spriggs was a start but it was only a band aid that the team needed, to cure the problem he needed to seriously consider getting real proven talent to either T or RG position, the Nick Foles experiment failed and left the Bears with a serious amount of cap space designated to him and I'm not even blaming Foles for this mess, the combination of bad decisions made by Nagy and Pace made Foles not have a chance. How do they expect an inmobile QB to play the position with no Oline that can neither maintain a pocket or make room for his RB to establish a running game. How do you take your mobile QB out for Foles when you have this clear problem and do nothing to try and fix it until players start getting hurt, because ultimately it wasn't a decision that was taken like when Nagy benched Mitchell Trubisky, the whole shuffling of the Oline and giving Trubisky back his spot was because of need to fill in positions because there wasn't anybody else available, it wasn't because of a big brain move, it was because of chance that turned these moves into positive results, there's no praise for that kind of stuff, it was dumb luck. I get that Trubisky isnt good but Nagy made sure he didn't have a chance to show how good he could be because honestly I do see a starting QB in Trubisky, does he need work? absolutely, I get that even with the bad mix of Nagys play calling, Trubisky shows huge flaws in field vision that makes his decision making questionable, unless this doesn't get fixed he will be limited to a fill in starter at best but that is only if he isn't fixable and the only way for him to find out is going somewhere else. 

   Average or good enough is long overused as an excuse in the Bears organization, from players to the administration, so I don't blame them from moving from Trubisky even if it wasn't completely his doing, but what about the rest that carry some of the blame? The mix of youth of Nagy and Pace to establish new and creative perspectives to their job positions isn't giving enough results to say its working. So I wouldn't have been surprised if both had gotten fired. Honestly I expected Pace to take responsibility and pull the trigger on Nagy because ultimately much of Paces decisions were made because of Nagys needs, Pace made moves that his coach needed and made them, such is the job of the GM. But the GM also needs to realize when the direction of the team isn't going the right way and needs a change, just like Nagy when he sat Trubisky over Foles.

    Ultimately president Ted Phillips didn't do squat, neither did Pace. Gave a garbage speech to end the year for the Bears and done, forward to next season. As expected Trubisky will take the blame and even Chuck Pagano may had gotten tired of this crap and announced his retirement, the coach that some way kept his players fighting. Now what direction will this duo take now that their in the hottest of hot seats? will they sell house to try and keep their jobs or will they finally accept what they are and where they are at and build this team a strong foundation?

   There will be many holes to fill this offseason but nothing as important as the QB position, with the surge of news that Deshaun Watson wants out of Houston, many see a light for the Bears but its a very very small spark of hope that they make it happen. Either way Pace should try getting him, which wouldn't surprise me if he offers them the keys to the city of Chicago while not caring if it means placing the franchise in cap hell and still with needs at OL and WR. Watson would make a difference, he showed he can still be competitive with poor talent around him, but to consider a change to a team that is struggling offensively is probably not very appealing. The only way i see the Bears to have a legitimate chance of getting him is to offer Watson a seat at the big table where he gets to be heard by the organization, which is what he is asking his present team, and Pace makes cap space to pay him, Allen Robinson and focuses on improving the Oline. Sadly the only way to get more cap space will be to let big names at defense go or get traded, as painful as it is to place his name here but Akiem Hicks might have to leave for the Bears to get ammo and make a big offensive splash next season, Khalil Mack could be added to a trade package along with Nick Foles and some big draft capital (two firsts and change or three firsts) for Watson. Others that would need to leave would be Charles Leno Jr and Bobby Massie of course, Jimmy Graham's tutelage to Cole Kmet would have to end and Buster Skrine would go as well. All of this would be worth the price for Watson if he keeps playing like he has, but I don't trust Nagy as the coach and would hate it if he messed it up.

   The other angle I saw of this news is the power that a franchise player has on their team to change the so called culture., Watson and J.J. Watt have expressed their disgust for the way the team has been run and prefer not to play, forcing the hand of the owner of their team to change his ways or change his players. This is some kind of statement I feel the Bears players should show, maybe it's still not clear enough for them, maybe there aren't enough leaders on the team or are not invested enough to lead them to change, now with so much media around all of this and communication being so easy to find and access so many different opinions, it's not difficult to see that Bears fans have had enough of these mediocre results, I get this doesn't save the world and its not important or even close to a relevant or serious topic, but it is a market and as a customer and loyal follower of their product I can demand in all seriousness and respect to have better quality, I am invested in football and the Chicago Bears and will keep rooting for the team and their members, but I think I have enough merchandise to wait until there is better results, even if it doesn't make a big difference. I don't expect a dynasty team that always wins but I do expect them to find stability to build a contending team that cares for the joy and support of their fans, players, personnel and the city they represent which I'm not even a part of but am excited to one day get to know.