Still Gotta Come Through Chicago
Matt Nagy should be fired Pt. 2; Tony La Russa hired
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What if the option to fire Matt Nagy was on the ballot today?
Imagine you got to go in to vote periodically on whether or not all of the Chicago coaches should be able to keep their jobs? I imagine Matt Nagy would lose his job in a landslide, but FiveThirtyEight may have to check my math, I am in a bubble.
Enter the campaign commercials:
“Mitch Trubisky is the worst quarterback drafted no. 2 overall of all time. Nick Foles stinks too. Our defense? They make some mistakes. Our offensive line coaches can’t figure it out. Our receiver — who I don’t play much — punched a cornerback in the head today… But the process remains, and we’re going to look at everything, and that’s why I have had a winning record over the last three seasons. BE YOU. *This message has been approved by Matt Nagy*”
If professional sports were a democracy, the campaign commercials alone would be worth it. Can you imagine Jim Boylen’s?
*Zach LaVine punching a time card on the way into practice * *The team running suicides on a Wednesday after a back-to-back* *Ryan Arcidiacono diving out of bounds for a loose ball* *Jim Boylen sweating profusely in his office after a game watching film of a 133-77 loss to the Celtics at home, taking vigorous notes*
“MAKE CHICAGO TOUGH AGAIN. I’M JIM BOYLEN AND I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE.”
The flaw in this method, of course, would be that virtually every single coach would get fired if we took them to the polls. My father would have voted no on every head coach in the last 40 years.
But goddamn would that be electric.
The fair tax, buddy? You think that’s what important today? Matt Nagy is supposed to be an offensive coach and the Bears have had one of the worst offenses in football two years in a row! You think that’s acceptable?
Sports fans like us already think we affect the game. We stand up when there’s a field goal, we change seats during playoff baseball games. We scream FUCK YOU at players that are younger than us trying to make an honest living through our TV screens.
And of course we do have some impact. With the exception of the Reinsdorfs, who could give less of a shit what their fans think, most owners worry about how their fans will react to certain things.
Plus, don’t even try to tell me that the 4th phase doesn’t make a difference. You’re telling me that when my buddies and I took our shirts off at a sub-freezing Bears game in 2016 and screamed at the top of our lungs every time Matt Barkley scrambled for a BEARS FIRST DOWN we didn’t matter? Yeah right.
Final score was Washington Football Team 41, Bears 21. If we hadn’t been there, though, you can bet your ass that game would have been at least 50-0. Kirk Cousins undoubtedly walked back to that visiting locker room and said ‘We’re lucky we got away with one today fellas, because those guys in the north end zone were rattling me.’
But what if we did have actual control over the team? What would that do to voter turnout?
Yeah, yeah. President, check. Fair tax, check. Judges, screw that. Matt Nagy, FIRED.
I’d be outside of every goddamn polling station handing out flyers.
‘Ma’am, I hate to bother you, but are you a fan of Marc Trestman? Didn’t think so. Are you aware that he actually had better results as the play caller for the Bears — by a long shot — than Matt Nagy did? Are you aware that every variable has been changed over the last two years to try to address the offensive woes, except for him and his play calling duties, and nothing has changed? Please, ma’am, consider voting NO on Matt Nagy today.’
…
‘Sir, we’re not going to tell you again. Please put your shirt back on, put that fire out, throw away your beers, and leave the polling area. You are scaring the voters.’
Generally, the national media chatting about your favorite team is maddening, particularly if you’re not located in Los Angeles or New York. The talking heads never have a pulse on what’s actually going on day-to-day like local media — and fans — do.
It’s one of my least favorite things about sports media in general. Especially when ex-players and coaches who got sports media jobs simply because of their former careers talk about the team without even watching the games.
(This happens often with the Bulls when a national guy or gal has to talk about them for more than one minute three times per year. ‘They’ve got some pieces, Zach LaVine just needs some help.’ What that means is that you have not watched one game this year, partner.)
Listen to Troy Aikman, not Rex Ryan or any other clown on TV talking about the Bears needing to go back to Mitch Trubisky.
For what? Keep the pressure on the guy that deserves it. The offense has been abysmal for two straight years, and honestly, the greater part of three.
The quarterback has been changed. The offensive linemen have been switched in and out. The offensive line coach has been fired. We’ve gotten new tight ends. We got a new tight ends coach. A new offensive coordinator. A new running back. Another back-up running back. Then another.
Based on this cruel experiment that we’ve been subject to, which is supposed to be a hobby, but feels more like a punishment, has led us to — what should be — a very definitive scientific theory.
Those of you who said Nagy was the problem when Trubisky was struggling were right. And now the rest of us, who admittedly thought Nagy may have been handcuffed, were wrong.
Nagy is the problem, it’s clear as day.
Are Trubisky and Foles great options? No. But the idea that we’d spend our energy debating which one should be playing the day after the Bears — again — made countless, avoidable mistakes and were unable to run a successful offense, is asinine.
Plus, as noted here, Trubisky played far worse opponents. Foles has three losses as a starter to the three of the best teams we’ve played, and a win against one of — if not the — best teams we’ve played.
His completion percentage has been better. He’s taken less sacks. He’s thrown for more yards. Has he made bad throws? Of course he has.
Is making bad throws now a measure of success for Trubisky people? Let’s be real.
Now look at me. I’ve fallen into the trap. I’ll stop now. The point is: If you think a quarterback change will fix what’s wrong with these team, you’ve avoided the evidence.
Instead of listening to talking heads on daytime TV shows, listen to Troy Aikman, who was more disgusted by the Bears than Dads are with their sons when they admit that Rocky 4 is their favorite movie in the series.
I was laughing out loud listening to Aikman. I mean the guy may have thrown up during a commercial break. And I loved every second of it, because first of all — he was right. Our offense, and our coaching especially, was an embarrassment for 60 minutes Sunday.
Secondly, I appreciate Aikman’s honesty because voices like Aikman’s actually matter. Owners and decision makers listen when they’re being criticized on a national stage. It sounds ridiculous, but it really does matter.
It’s why the Bulls — despite being one of the worst-run franchises in the NBA for multiple years straight — didn’t make changes to the status quo until they hosted the All-Star game and every NBA voice in the city let Michael Reinsdorf know that, uh, yeah dude, you guys suck and your management is terrible.
The fans are powerful when they’re in unison. They’re even more powerful when their message is backed by voices like Aikman’s on national television, during losses.
Stop bickering about Foles v. Trubisky, and instead start demanding that Nagy should 1. lose play calling privileges and that 2. he does not deserve to be the coach of the Chicago Bears.
Javon Wims was a part of one of the most confusing things I’ve ever witnessed on a football field Sunday. Yes, I saw CJ Gardner-Johnson poke Anthony Miller and rip Wims’ mouthguard off a few plays before. And yes, I am with guys who stand up for themselves and their teammates on the field.
But as a guy who was once punched in the head, with a helmet on, on the football field, let me tell you this: I didn’t feel a goddamn thing. It was a 15-yard penalty then, and it was a 15-yard penalty Sunday. There is no better way to announce the fact that you’re a moron more efficiently than to punch someone while they have a state-of-the-art, concussion-preventing helmet on.
Secondly, defend yourself and your teammates by all means. Don’t do it in a close game and put your team in a poor position. A lot of terrible plays and decisions led to a Bears loss Sunday. But it was an overtime loss, and every play mattered. It’s not nuts to say that, in some way, Wims could’ve cost the Bears the game.
He’s been suspended by the league for two games, and I’m not sure he’ll play for the Bears again. If he was Allen Robinson, sure, I’d let it slide. But he’s not. He’s done virtually nothing to help the Bears, and hurt them considerably against the Saints. That is unacceptable.
Now for the actual game, where Matt Nagy once again used timeouts about as well as Chris Webber and constantly hindered his team’s chances of winning.
The Bears drive all the way down the field, then begin running plays like they want to pad Cairo Santos’ stats instead of winning the game.
(Shoutout my man King Tut, though.)
They waste time when they need it. They can’t get the play in. I would look up what the record is for delay of game penalties in a season but I don’t want to depress myself anymore.
The Bears signed punt returner Dwayne Harris and he immediately, by just catching the ball, or at least trying to, made a positive impact. Is that a good sign? No. It makes it even more embarrassing that the Bears waited weeks to make this move.
Our hard count attempts are disgustingly embarrassing. Our players punch people in the head on third down.
Speaking of third down. Nagy’s play calling is generally bad, but the awfulness intensifies when we need him to be better. The Bears are 31st in third down conversion rate, only better than the Jets, who are actively trying to be the worst team in the league. We — I think? — are trying to be good.
You don’t have to look up the stats either. If you watch the games, you know how little confidence our third down plays inspire. We hand the ball to Cordarrelle Patterson on 3rd and 1. We throw it to David Montgomery on 3rd and 14. None of it makes any sense, and not in a good, creative way.
The only way the plays would make sense would be if the McCaskeys told Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace they will not get fired and Nagy’s goal is to have the best pick possible to get his next quarterback.
In terms of personnel, Darnell Mooney is a star. If we gave Foles even .5 seconds more per attempt, Mooney may be considered one of the best offensive rookies in the game.
David Montgomery continues to turn in valiant efforts, and I greatly appreciate his work between the tackles. But as his longest run of the season showed us, he lacks breakaway speed. The Bears need someone that can capitalize on the rare hole that our dreadful offensive line provides.
The offensive line continues to be awful, so bad that when players go down — and I hate to say this — all I can think is that I’m not sure that it could get any worse. The idea that the staff could watch Rashaad Coward get dominated out there every single week and not think that some sort of change needs to be made is dumbfounding.
Allen Robinson is fantastic, and I feel bad for him every single week.
The Bears drops this week were horrendous.
Foles needs to be better, but again, I’m just not sure I expected much more out of him. He’s been fine, based on reasonable expectations.
Trubisky was fantastic. Great run by him for three yards, probably our third best rush on the year.
The defense had some lapses — letting Khalil Mack drop in coverage when Alvin Kamara is in our defensive backfield was absurd. Letting Kamara do as much as he did was ridiculous, considering the fact that Drew Brees threw the ball over 15 yards three times the entire game.
When Taysom Hill plays quarterback, he’s running. There’s a tip for everyone.
I’m not sure what Jaylon Johnson was doing on that wide open touchdown to Cook, but again, he’s not one of the top-20 concerns regarding the Bears at this point.
Where is Robert Quinn? I’m not a guy that just counts sacks and evaluates performance based on that, as you all know, but for a guy who signed a $70 million dollar deal, I expect to realize — at the very least — when he’s on the field.
But, the Bears defense isn’t worth criticizing. They show out every week when they know their coach is incapable of drawing up an effective game plan.
The Bears are 6-point dogs next week at Tennessee against a team that has played awfully defensively. Do we expect anything to change offensively, though? No. And that’s the root of the issue.
I should have put out a breaker for the news that Tony La Russa was named the White Sox manager this past week, but I have to admit, it took some time to sink in. Like the White Sox social media team, it was hard for me to believe that it actually happened.
As you can see, in the White Sox twitter post announcing the move, the signature at the top is clearly A.J. Hinch’s, and not Tony La Russa’s.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the hiring of La Russa pissed off a slew of people within the organization.
Most importantly, it’s clear — from reports and from his face during the press conference — that Rick Hahn, the architect of this young and beautiful White Sox roster, did not like the move.
He said one thing, his body language said something completely different.
And that’s my number one gripe with the move. It’s not his age, it’s not his somewhat-controversial opinions that may not be his opinions at all anymore. It’s not that we don’t know if he’ll embrace analytics.
It’s the fact that Hahn, who the Sox have trusted to get them to this point, didn’t get his guy. It’s like when you were in an entry level sales job, and you got a lead, established a relationship with someone, and then your loud-mouth boss decided to come in for the final meeting and screw it all up.
This was Jerry Reinsdorf’s move, no question about it. He felt bad about the fact that the White Sox fired (specifically, Hawk Harrelson fired) Tony La Russa before most of us were born and wanted to make things right — at the expense of the actual team — before it was too late.
Listen, the Bulls just hired a new GM, got rid of GarPax, and hired Billy Donovan. The Reinsdorfs needed to remind us who they really are. So Jerry stepped in and made his own move, even when the general manager he hired was against it.
That’s just same of the old bullshit from the kings of bullshit.
‘Jerry is just such a loyal guy.’
Is he? He’s loyal when he wants to be. We know he’s loyal to John Paxson. Was he loyal to Michael Jordan? Phil Jackson? Nah.
Was he loyal to Tony La Russa? Eventually, I guess. Was he loyal to Rick Hahn? No, he was not.
Everything else about the hire seems secondary to me.
La Russa is a three-time World Series champion, winning one with the Athletics and two with the Cardinals.
But it is worth mentioning that he was born before the second World War was finished — there were times during the introductory press conference where I thought he was on the verge of falling asleep. He last managed the White Sox before their play-by-play manager, Jason Benetti, was born. The last time he managed was in 2011, and a lot has changed in baseball since then.
If you got rid of Ricky Renteria because of his archaic thinking during games, I’m not sure La Russa was the right guy to replace him.
He also is taking over a team with a nucleus of young, exciting players, who may not take kindly to the idea that La Russa was upset that Fernando Tatis hit a homer in a game when the Padres were up seven runs.
La Russa voiced his displeasure with that — a player hitting a home run while batting in Major League Baseball — while Tim Anderson said the worst thing about it all was that Tatis ended up apologizing.
That seems to be an issue.
It’s not his DUI, or his fervent position on kneeling during the national anthem, that I think is a chief concern. At least regarding the flag, La Russa answered a question from The Athletic’s James Fegan during his press conference on the issue, and said that he is “all for” protests that will make a meaningful impact on society.
Whether you like it or not, these are things that he’s going to need to address heading into the clubhouse in 2021 — especially with a team that had five players protest the national anthem last year.
My question is, even though we know the answer (Jerry), why not keep things smooth sailing?
Managers, for the most part, can usually hurt a team more than they can help it. At the end of the day, the players will drive winning or losing. In my opinion, hiring a manager that would simply listen to the front office and make less boneheaded lineup and bullpen decisions than Renteria, should have been the goal.
That’s why David Ross took over for Joe Maddon. Ross listens to the front office, does not consider himself the be-all and end-all, and has the respect of every single one of his players.
Is he in the hall of fame, like La Russa? No. Has he won a World Series as a manager? He has not.
But I’m not sure that matters as much as most fans do. It’s great to have that experience in the clubhouse, no doubt, but for this White Sox team — I think a reach for La Russa was misguided.
Having said all of that, La Russa does have that experience. And he handled the press conference well, answering questions succinctly and intelligently. His best point was that if he could connect with players in 2011, when he was in his mid-sixties, he’s sure he could probably do the same in his mid-seventies.
After all, I don’t think you start garnering less respect once you become a septuagenarian. Just look at the presidential candidates!
I don’t think La Russa was the right hire, especially because it was not made by the right people.
I also think that people acting as if the Sox just hired baseball’s Adolph Hitler himself may be a touch over the top.
The Sox will still be good in 2021. If things crumble, at least we’ll have Jerry, and only Jerry, to blame.
Let’s end things by highlighting a Still Gotta Come Through Chicago-certified player, and one of my favorite athletes of all time.
After the Cubs declined Jon Lester’s option for next year, which does not mean he won’t come back on a lesser deal, Lester turned around and doled out Miller Lites to the city of Chicago this weekend.
This is way better than buying out ad space in the Chicago Tribune. Jon Lester, simply put, is the man. And I love him.
The single most important free agent signing in Chicago sports history, and a guy that cared as much as all of us along the way.
A STILL GOTTA COME THROUGH CHICAGO to you, Jon.
Everyone have a great day and a great week. Thank you so much for reading. Leave a comment, and please spread the word by sharing this with others.
You forgot your sections on the three most important topics: The rise of Ben "Gucci" Dinucci, MACtion is back (Miami-OH a contender??), and Notre Dame will be embarrassed by Clemson's backup. Peace, love, and Titan Up!
Chicago isn't fit for sports organizations. We, the fans, deserve better than this.