Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace dislikes this decision by Matt Nagy

Matt Nagy doesn’t seem to trust this Chicago Bears team and punts the ball

Week 13: Chicago Bears vs. Arizona

Andy Dalton started the game for the 4-8 Bears since Fields was still recovering from his injured ribs, and things didn’t start off well for Chicago. The first two offensive possessions ended in interceptions, and Dalton would end up throwing four on the day.

But with the Bears down 21-7 with 1:21 remaining in the first half, Chicago’s offense lined up and tried to draw Arizona offsides on a fourth-and-2 from the Cardinals’ 49-yard line. It didn’t work. The Bears were called for a delay of game instead and punted.

Nagy explained his thought process on his decision to not go for it on fourth-and-2.

“Yeah, we tried to get them to jump offsides and they did a good job of holding, but I knew going into that, that’s what we were going to do,” Nagy said. “You could say, ‘yeah, go for it and if you don’t get it, then why did you go for it;’ you give them a short field. We’ve been giving them the short field the whole half. That’s the biggest thing. If you don’t get it, kick the ball to them, see what they can do and they ended up doing nothing from it.”

Yes, the Cardinals didn’t do anything after the punt. However, they got the ball with 1:10 remaining in the half and started on their own 16-yard line, and had just one timeout. So, it’s not really saying much.

Nagy’s decisions to punt in these fourth-down attempts against Arizona and Green Bay are telling. Simply, over the course of the season, he has lost confidence in both his offense and defense to be aggressive in those instances.

Now, at 4-9, it’s tough to see Nagy changing his ways. At this point, it’s doesn’t matter if he does. Unlike Nagy’s indecisiveness to attempt fourth-and-short situations, his job status at the end of the season should be an obvious decision.