This season is no time for placing any blame in NFL

How many of you can honestly say that your jobs, your performance at those jobs, your attitudes, your moods, your relationships or your overall sense of well-being hasn't been affected by COVID-19?

If your hand is up, you're almost certainly lying. Or you're Superman or Wonder Woman.

But if you acknowledge what I'm asking - your performance has failed to meet expectations, but that performance has been significantly impacted by the pandemic - how would you feel about being fired from your job in an otherwise healthy industry?

My best guess at the moment is there is a 99% chance that Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy will be the general manager and head coach of the Bears in 2021.

That could change over the next seven weeks, but as ridiculous as it is for this to be happening, there is a large enough segment of Bears fans calling for their heads right now that it feels important to at least put the question on its proper foundation.

Yes, the team is on a frustrating three-game losing streak mainly because the offense is historically bad due in large part to awful quarterback play in spite of the fact Nagy is here for his offensive expertise and Pace mortgaged a piece of the franchise's future to try to get the QB position right.

But it really isn't that simple is it?

No, it is not.

A tremendously important part of Nagy's and Pace's jobs this year has been protecting the safety, health and well-being of all their players, coaches and staff amid protocols and mitigation practices that are even more historic than the stench of their offense.

Is that an excuse? Absolutely not.

But it is a reality that will weigh heavily on the evaluations of all 32 general managers and coaches at the end of the season, and it would be patently unfair if it didn't.

This is how Nagy described the situation last Friday morning in the middle of a mini outbreak on his roster.

"There's no plan," he said. "You don't know what you're going to get into this year. It's too hard. No coach has any idea. No player has any idea.

"I think that's where you've got to have some resolve. That's where you've got to have your teamwork with your coaches, support staff and players. That word trust is huge right now, I really believe that."

Offensive line coach Juan Castillo offered another reality every coach and player is dealing with.

"I think the hard part too is you just wonder, 'shoot, was I close enough to be the next one, you know?' So you know those kind of things you just start, it's a little bit ... it's probably the most challenging position I've ever been in."

As Khalil Mack says every day is really just a battle to stay healthy.

"It's been a unique situation, just trying to adapt and stay as safe as possible so that the building can be as safe as possible, you know what I mean," Mack said. "It's a responsibility that I feel that everybody is trying their best to be on top of, but nonetheless it's tough."

So before you start screaming for Pace's and/or Nagy's job again, ask yourself this:

If you were tasked with one of their jobs but had to do it with no off-season workouts or practices, a truncated preseason with no exhibitions, roughly half the practices and virtually no contact.

Then a regular season filled with tedious mitigation protocols, middle-of-the-night phone calls about sick young men, practices and meetings canceled regularly with no notice, day-to-day lineup changes due to exposure or positive tests.

Not to mention, limited personal contact even on the practice field, games played in empty stadiums and, most important, 70 or so young men, young enough to be your sons entrusting you with the health, safety and even lives of not just them but their family and friends as well. Just how close to 100% effectiveness do you think you might be?

It sure feels like it's time we give these guys a break.

As Danny Trevathan explains it, "It's not an excuse, but it's reality to me, we can't budge, we can't lose focus.

"We've got to be prepared for anything in crazy times like this and stay prayed up and stay masked up."