Rozner: Was Nagy reason for Bears' early exit?

A week ago, Matt Nagy was headed to the Hall of Fame based on 16 games as a head coach.

Today, the Bears' boss is to blame for choking in a playoff game.

The S&P should be so stable.

So the running narrative is that Nagy didn't throw it downfield enough in the loss to Philadelphia on Sunday at Soldier Field.

Wait, are we talking about John Fox here?

That was the reason he had to be fired, said the experts, that he was too conservative and didn't understand a modern offense.

Of course, that ignored the fact that his rookie quarterback didn't have much of the playbook figured out, his rookie running back didn't know the offense so he couldn't be on the field when it mattered most, his rookie tight end was clueless and there weren't enough weapons.

But now with an embarrassment of riches and weapons, it's Air Nagy who was too conservative?

If he was, perhaps it was the 4 interceptions Mitch Trubisky threw in the first half that were either dropped or bobbled out of bounds.

Just how aggressive was Nagy supposed to be given Trubisky was 13 of 23 for 105 yards the first 30 minutes, and he wasn't even as good as the stats might suggest?

Maybe Nagy thought his defense was good enough to win the Super Bowl if he could just keep his quarterback from throwing it to the other team.

It should have been.

As bad as Trubisky was in the first half, and for most of the third quarter, he was very good on two drives in the fourth quarter. The Bears, especially Nagy, talk about Trubisky in only the most glowing terms, but his season was very much like Sunday's game.

“You always want to play great for your team, but it's also got to be a next-play mentality,” Trubisky said. “You don't play as well as you want the first half … put it behind you.

“It's never going to be exactly how you want it to be, but we found ways to win all season long, and we just came up a little short.”

Seldom is heard a discouraging word from Nagy about his quarterback. It's reminiscent of the “Rex is our quarterback” days in that regard, but the reality is the Bears didn't lose Sunday because the coach got dumb overnight.

It wasn't only because of Cody Parkey, or because of one Philadelphia drive, or Nagy's decision on a 2-point conversion.

It wasn't only because of odd time management decisions, which were evident throughout the 2018 season and were masked by Khalil Mack and an extraordinary defense.

They lost because of all of those things, but also in large part because the quarterback was inconsistent and couldn't make a play in the first half.

Blaming Nagy so suddenly is absurd, as is determining a pattern based on Nagy and the Chiefs' offensive performance last postseason.

Maybe the playoff game was too fast for him Sunday. Maybe it was last year. Maybe he needs sideline help with clock decisions since he's busy calling the game.

Maybe.

But if you want to be mad, wonder why Nagy chose the Eagles over the Vikings and Kirk Cousins, a team and a quarterback they knew they could manhandle.

To hear Nagy tell it, he didn't even know at halftime of the Minnesota game what the options were, so perhaps the decision was made for him and above his paygrade.

Either way, the Bears are done and nothing but very beatable teams remain alive in Super Bowl hunt.

But it's not because the head coach got dumb overnight.