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Lincicome: Can Nagy's drive-through prowess help in the red zone?

As founder and only member of the Matt's OK Society (MOKS) it falls to me to defend the regularly maligned and mistrusted coach of the Bears, an obligation I take on gladly, because I will do anything to keep from raking the lawn.

To those who say that Matt Nagy (1) cannot coach (2) cannot inspire or (3) appear in public without his lucky visor I say, look lately at the man on the sidelines doing one out of three, proving him not inflexible after all but rather tasteful.

I won't say it has not been touchy here at MOKS with debate interfering with a busy schedule of dog walking and Netflix, the membership (me) divided over the value and future of the Bears' coach.

But good sense and geometric logic eventually won out over irritation and indifference, keeping in mind always that whoever coaches the Bears will never be Mike Ditka, the lucky stiff.

The decider for the MOKS membership (me) was Nagy's McDonald's commercial where the coach insists to fast food wage earners that "I was hired to make a great team even better."

I believe that any leader who can sort out which lane to order, which window to pay and which window to pick up should have no trouble figuring out how to score in the red zone.

Whereas some may see the McDonald's gig as absurd irony or even a job interview for future employment, I see it as a reminder of why Nagy was hired by the Bears in the first place, which was to keep a bad team from getting worse.

For those with short memories, which is the only kind to have as a Bears fan, the unlamented tenure of John Fox had reached its breaking point, a third straight losing season and a rookie quarterback who had already shown signs of being a coffin nail.

And, then, bingo! Winning season, coach of the year, playoffs - a double doink field goal loss to Philadelphia, yes, but good for sympathy and anticipation of more good times ahead for MOKS.

So here the Bears are, mediocre again but in first place - well, tied - with another greenhorn quarterback to be molded into a Super Bowl champion, the third opportunity for Nagy to do so after Patrick Mahomes (win), Mitch Trubisky (loss) and now Justin Fields, (toss up).

Will he make Fields better or worse? That's pretty much up to Fields, as it was with Trubisky and Mahomes, too, since all any coach can do is give his quarterback plays to run and then avoid the blame when they do not work.

Nagy has a gift for evading responsibility, valuable to any coach's longevity. Almost all the coaches (including pals from the Arena League where Nagy toiled for four teams and learned everything there is to know about short passes) who came to the Bears with him or those he kept around are now gone, fired, retired, just gone, leaving Nagy no more alibis, an alibi being one of the first building blocks of MOKS.

And, besides, Nagy is not against throwing the ball downfield, just in case one of the downfield receivers can catch the ball downfield. "You can't just dink and dunk your whole way," he once said, though when he said it is not verified by MOKS, but is taken on faith as is much of what Nagy does.

When once asked why he didn't take a chance, he answered, "What happens if you take a sack or fumble?" This might explain his tendency to go for it on fourth down. What happens if you punt? It could get blocked or returned or fumbled. All possibilities must be considered. We here at MOKS consider him a thinking man's coach.

It is widely claimed that Nagy can't game plan; that is, figure out what it takes to beat the next guy. He is always going back to the drawing board. We here at MOKS are sure that the rumor that he sleeps with his drawing board is unfounded. Rumors do not just appear without someone having started them and the membership of MOKS (me) takes no responsibility for starting this one.

Nagy's job right now is to manage young Fields, to identify his skills, to use them, to not "Trubisky" them, another term high in the MOKS handbook.

The membership (me) has enough confidence to keep watching.

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