Chicago Bears: Matt Nagy continues to prove he should be fired

The Chicago Bears figured a lot of things out on Sunday as they picked up their first win of the season in a Week 2 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

First off, the defense is back — for now. Fans finally got a glimpse of that fun, exciting, aggressive defense they had been missing for a while now. Sean Desai’s crew came away with four takeaways, including three interceptions off Joe Burrow which came on three consecutive passes.

Roquan Smith took one of those back for a touchdown, breathing even more life into this group. It was a much-needed jolt for the defense.

This isn’t an argument for or against starting Justin Fields in Week 3, but the rookie did show some growing pains amidst some excellent throws — a couple that went for drops. As for those growing pains, we’ll get to those later on. Spoiler alert: most of them can be blamed on head coach Matt Nagy.

Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy continued to prove why he should be fired

It’s nice to be able to enjoy a win, but it’s also difficult to support Nagy sticking around. There were a few key situations that arose which can be blamed squarely on coaching.

The first one came when the Bengals were in a third and long, and the Bears stopped Cincinnati which should have forced a punt. Safety Tashaun Gipson was flagged for taunting, though, and that gave the Bengals a whole new set of downs.

These new taunting rules are questionable at best, but it’s on Nagy to make sure his players understand them. That flag is as much on Nagy as it is on Gipson.

Speaking of unnecessary penalties that extended drives, outside linebacker Robert Quinn was flagged for a late hit on Burrow which gave the Bengals a new set of downs — once again, this came on a third down that should have resulted in a punt.

Late hits and taunting are unacceptable, period. Quinn’s penalty was the worst of the two. It was as blatant as it gets. But, this type of undisciplined behavior is nothing new. Just look at the Bears’ similar situations last year with Anthony Miller and Javon Wims. All of this comes down to discipline and accountability, and Nagy has gone four years without holding players accountable.

The Chicago Bears ended the game with eight flags costing them 70 penalty yards in total. A few of those came upfront on the offensive line, too. Offensive line penalties crept in and cut drives short, putting the Bears in third-and-long situations more often than not. It’s no wonder why Chicago was just 6-for-15 on third down for the game.

But wait, weren’t two false start penalties called on Fields?

Yes, they were — and the blame once again goes on Nagy.

Both times Fields was called for a false start saw him expecting the football. Instead, he didn’t get the ball for another half-second or so. This can be directly attributed to the lack of first-team snaps Fields has had over the past month and a half.

Nagy has stuck with his “plan” of Andy Dalton being the team’s starting quarterback but has also failed to give Fields the first-team reps he deserves as well. It’s one thing calling Dalton your starter, but it’s another thing to not even prepare or develop your rookie first-round quarterback by giving him even a taste of legitimate first-team reps.

Had Fields been given the necessary first-team reps, he and center Sam Mustipher likely would have been on the same page with the cadence. That’s a minor issue that should be worked out in practice this week, but the Bears are lucky.

The Chicago Bears are lucky that none of these penalties cost them the game. The lack of discipline and preparedness was on full display, despite the victory. Nagy continues to be underprepared as he has been for four years now. Looking ahead to a Cleveland Browns team that boasts plenty of firepower on both sides of the ball, Nagy better get his act together.