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Last-place Chicago Fire finishes with loss

The 2015 Chicago Fire season ended Sunday night, just six days after the 2016 season began.

The 2016 season won't technically begin until March, of course, but essentially it started Monday when Nelson Rodriguez walked into the club's Toyota Park office for his first official day as Fire general manager.

Sunday's 2-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls was just a formality to the home team. What really matters in Chicago is what decisions Rodriguez makes this winter.

The Red Bulls won the league's Supporters' Shield; the Fire (8-20-6, 30 points) suffered its 20th loss of the season to finish dead last among the 20 league teams.

"It's really tough," Fire veteran Patrick Nyarko said. "If not for anything for the fans, I feel really bad for them. We feel bad for ourselves. We (wanted to) end the season on a good note as a confidence-builder for next year. … It's just a mentality we couldn't get out of all season. We just need to go look at ourselves and figure out what exactly what wrong."

It could very well have been a farewell match for some Fire veterans with high salaries. Rodriguez said this week he hopes to build the team through its academy, and academy graduate Patrick Doody did well at left back Sunday. He seems likely to have a role next year.

Doody, a Naperville resident in his first year with the Fire, started the match along with fellow homegrown players Harry Shipp (Lake Forest) and Chris Ritter (Winnetka), with Collin Fernandez (Downers Grove) on the bench.

"From a personal standpoint, it's my first go-round with everything, so I'm anxious to see how it goes," Doody said of the off-season. "Regardless, I'm just really grateful for this year and what the Fire were able to offer me."

The Fire got its goal in the 78th minute when Doody, playing left back, sent a cross to the right side, where veteran midfielder Patrick Nyarko headed it back across the middle. Gilberto was there to knock it into the net.

"It's always a moral victory to get the goal and re-energize the troops for those last 10-15 minutes or whatever was left on the clock," interim coach Brian Bliss said. "But in the end a moral victory would have been getting that second one or possibly even a third to tie the game or win and send everyone home happy.

"At the end of the day, we weren't able to do it."

That was the story of the season.

• Follow Orrin on Twitter @Orrin_Schwarz

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