Chicago Bears: McCaskey puts pressure on Ryan Pace, Matt Nagy to win

Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey sounded like he and the rest of ownership aren’t happy and put pressure on Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy to win.

The Chicago Bears underperformed in 2019, no doubt about it. After a 12-4 2018, they fell struggled in 2019 and finished with a record of 8-8. That was not what anyone involved with the team wanted, especially the chairman, George McCaskey. He sounded very disappointed in this season and spoke on how disappointed the owner, Virginia McCaskey, was as well.

After a great 2018 season, and heading into the centennial season, Bears ownership wondered how great it would be to win the Super Bowl. To add to the storybook ending, this year’s Super Bowl will be played on Feb. 2, Chicago Bears founder George “Papa Bear” Halas’ birthday.

But alas, it never came to fruition. Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky struggled, the offensive line struggled, the tight ends were nonexistent, and a host of other things contributed to an underwhelming season.

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At the end of the season press conference, general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy spoke about how much they liked the players on the roster and how they want to turn things around. Despite Trubisky’s struggles, both men indicated they had trust in Trubisky, with Pace going as far as saying that the plan for 2020 was to have him continue being the starter.

At this part of the press conference Pace and Nagy basically said a bunch of nothing, as expected. You wouldn’t expect to have them lay out their plan right after the season.

The real show began once McCaskey got to the podium. He expressed confidence in Pace and Nagy and said they’re in charge of making the decisions on the roster.

He did, however, basically issue a challenge or a directive, per the Chicago Sun-Times:

"“The hope was there. The Bears were back. And then to take a step back was especially disappointing….The Bears believe in both men (Pace and Nagy) but can’t be afraid to point the finger at ourselves.”"

That sounds like the 2020 season needs to be special. McCaskey reiterated throughout the press conference that he had confidence in Pace and Nagy, but for how long? The McCaskeys enjoyed the taste of winning again and want to continue to taste it. This season just left a sour taste in their mouths.

McCaskey included himself when he spoke about the finger-pointing but I suspect Virginia McCaskey will fire him and he won’t fire himself.

McCaskey seemed to be tight-lipped about Trubisky. Twice reporters asked him about the young quarterback and twice he deflected. They asked him if it was wise to declare Trubisky the starter instead of bringing someone in and have a competition and even asked him to critique Pace’s move up in the draft to take Trubisky. Both times McCaskey just stated that Pace makes the decisions.

McCaskey isn’t ready to hold the Trubisky pick over Pace’s head. Pace and Nagy have to do whatever they can to get the best out of him. It’s time to stop looking for seventh-round picks to try to block for him, and they need to surround him with weapons. He spent this season without any tight end help and that really hurt his development.

The McCaskeys want to win consistently again. The fans also want that. Pace and Nagy need to make bold moves this offseason to get the Chicago Bears back on track.