Chicago Bears coach isn't the problem (yet) but can he be the fix?
Have you ever considered how you might like having your job security, career and future all judged by one or two days at the office?
It happened to Matt Nagy on Sunday night and Monday following a Chicago Bears loss for the second time in 10 months of a game it appeared they would win before a field-goal attempt just outside of 40 yards failed in the end.
Immediately following the Bears' 17-16 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, dropping them to 3-4, a large chorus of fans began screaming for the job of the head coach.
Nagy is safe right now not just because he's the reigning NFL Coach of the Year, or because you probably can count in single digits the number of NFL head coaches who have gone 15-8 or better in their first 23 games.
He's safe because, even allowing for a very tough day against the Chargers, he's still done a lot more good than bad in Chicago.
Beyond his record, which will always be the ultimate measuring stick, you remember all that buzz around his team until a few weeks ago? Nagy's the guy mostly responsible for it.
While he specializes on offense, his seeming complete lack of ego that has allowed him to give free hands to first Vic Fangio and now Chuck Pagano on defense, and what is looking like a fairly seamless transition from Vic to Chuck also are big blue ribbons on his head-coaching resume.
Other boxes Nagy has checked include that his players love playing for him, he has radically improved the culture around his team, and he has raised the expectations of its fans. Also, his assistants appear to hold him in high regard.
Nagy is very creative and, even more than that, innovative in his approaches to both offense and his job.
What Nagy is not is perfect, and as most young coaches do, he has hit a rut these last few weeks from which he is struggling to escape.
Perhaps it's as simple as things were just too good too soon, winning 15 of his first 20 games and his club escaping it's only other losing streak before this current three-game skid by winning five straight and nine of its next 10.
That did happen, though, and Nagy showed again Monday why he appears to be a great fit for the Bears.
He arrived in the media room at Halas Hall determined to hash things out, explain his side of the story and listen to your concerns.
Most important, he does appear to understand how much your voices matter.
To be clear, Nagy remains defiant with doubters who believe he should have tried to score 7 points, or at least shorten that failed game-winning field goal attempt rather than setting it up with a victory-formation knee that cost him another yard and a half, and he only singled out one of the half dozen or so shaky play-calls he made on 11 tries inside the Chargers' 10 in the first half.
While I still believe he is wrong on both counts, these aren't issues with clear right and wrong answers.
We know the solid head-coaching chops are there from the way he stunned the Chargers with his I formation running game, unseen before this Sunday and in answer to what had been his offense's biggest problem.
Of course, why it was missing during all those red-zone fails remains an unsolved mystery. NFL head coaches can't air their laundry in public, even if they want to.
I'm guessing we still don't know the real reasons Nagy took that knee before the kick, and he can't tell us without throwing someone under the bus.
Nagy is more than worth our patience, but he is at a crossroads.
Whether he is willing to stop now and listen - not so much to us, but to the coaches and players around him - and learn from and fix his mistakes will determine whether he takes the Bears' franchise to the next level … or at the end of next season finds himself precariously seeking balance atop the coaching bubble.
• Hub Arkush, the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.