4th and Goal(s): Bears Look to Go All-Out In Anti-Climactic Season Finale
Sunday looks to be one last showcase for team under Matt Nagy
We’re down to one last game left in the unfortunate 2021 season of the Chicago Bears.
No playoffs or otherwise winning glory is on the line, not much is allowed for the Bears and their faithful to look forward to outside of the potential for massive changes soon after the end of Sunday’s contest in Minnesota.
Head coach Matt Nagy is rumored to be on the chopping block, while it seems more and more inevitable that general manager Ryan Pace will stay.
Though some of Pace’s failures in roster building can be glossed over due to unexpected successes he found through the draft, Nagy is only left with his more glaring inefficiencies, which were pounded into the consciousness of Bears fans each week with multiple extended losing streaks and even many wins that could only be classified as bittersweet.
It has been a tough era of Bears football under Pace-Nagy, featuring a couple of playoff appearances, no wins in those appearances and diminishing returns each season with Nagy as coach all playing roles in driving fans away from the team.
However ownership decides to correct the course this off-season is still something we’ve yet to see, but some valuable evaluations will come out of this last game against the Vikings.
With that in mind, the Bears can also do much for their confidence going forward with a third consecutive win to close out the season. Not all of the roster will return for training camp this coming Summer, but those who do could stand to have at least one more performance as Bears that they can be proud of — here are four ways for them to put such a performance together.
Defensive dominance - Last time these two teams matched up, it sure as hell wasn’t the defense’s fault for the loss. In their previous contest the Bears defense held the Vikings down to under 200 total yards.
If it hadn’t been for all the Bears turnovers then defensively the Bears might have carried the day for the entire team. Easily the strength of this Vikings is there offensive unit and firepower. If the Bears defense can come close to repeating a similar effort as last match-up then the Bears will be on their way to one last victory this season.
Taking care of the football - It’s hard not to mention the turnovers from last matchup, the Bears are just so limited offensively and cannot waste any possessions, especially if it creates easy scoring for the other team. Maybe there can be the extremely rare deep downfield play but assuming the game goes the usual Bears offense it should be a lot of quick passes and running the football.
Now with quarterback Andy Dalton under center for the last time, it will be imperative for the quarterback to make sound decisions, and set the guys around him up for success. If the Bears offense can play sound football with the defense backing them up the victory will be there for the taking.
Coaching with everything on the line - It feels like the Bears coaches and front office really want to get this win to show to ownership that overall they are still a team close to breaking through.
I doubt many if any reading this would agree with the coaches and front office, major issues are plaguing this team/roster which directly has come from the team construction. But nevertheless Nagy and his staff will likely go all out for a seventh win.
Expect the Vikings to be doing a very similar approach. Therefore, this game could get fun with all the fourth down going for it and all the potential unconventional decisions used by the coaches to gain an edge. Nagy has had the Vikings number in his coaching career so perhaps we will see more of the same.
One last ride - One final goal for the Bears to gain a victory is the effort level of the players on the field. A lot of veterans will have plane tickets ready to go home and be with family as well as start their vacations for after the season.
Of course lots of players know this is one last audition tape for the entire league to ensure making it onto a roster for next season. Routinely the Bears players have maintained the locker room is still behind Nagy and want to play hard for him.
So for this last goal, what level of intensity do the Bears players come out with, do they bring the old lunch pale and get to work or pack in for vacay? Then the real fireworks start for this Bears franchise on Monday.
Ryan Bukowiecki covers the Chicago Bears and professional football for WARR