The solution to the Bears' sloppiness is already in Chicago. Would Pat Fitzgerald want the job?
Leading hapless Detroit by 10 points with less than three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, it looked like Chicago might win for the first time since Oct. 18.
Then the defense stopped playing, Mitchell Trubisky started fumbling and no one may ever properly explain what Allen Robinson was doing on third-and-3.
Next thing you know, the Lions, who had just fired their head coach Matt Patricia, were celebrating a 34-30 victory, leaving the Bears at 5-7 and losers of six straight. It’s reasonable to assume that Matt Nagy will join Patricia on the NFL unemployment line.
Nagy was the league’s Coach of the Year in 2018. This is a tough business though, and that was a tough way to lose.
Compounding things was a Sunday CBS report that if Nagy was fired, the Bears would target no less than Pat Fitzgerald, the Chicago native and longtime hero/coach at Northwestern.
Fitzgerald wouldn’t solve this version of the franchise’s original sin – trading up to take Trubisky when it could have stayed put and selected Patrick Mahomes. It might cushion the blow, however, and intrigue fans by restoring some semblance of competency.
The question, then, is twofold: Would the Bears really want Fitz and would Fitz really want the Bears?
NFL interest in Fitzgerald isn’t new. A slew of teams over the years have inquired as Fitzgerald slowly turned Northwestern into a consistent Big Ten winner despite numerous disadvantages. The Wildcats are currently 5-1.
Across 15 seasons, Fitzgerald is the winningest coach at a program where there’s been very little winning. Since World War II, only Ara Parseghian got out of Evanston over .500, and he went 36-35-1. Fitzgerald is 104-80.
About the only other time Northwestern was any good was when Fitzgerald helped lead the Wildcats to a mid-1990s Rose Bowl as a two-time All American linebacker. It’s little wonder they hired him to be the head coach at just 31 years of age. What he lacked in experience he made up for in being Pat Fitzgerald.
The guy is a winner. He’s likable, smart and proven. There are no tricks here. He is not the product of having one great player or one good run. Northwestern can struggle at times (it went 3-9 last year) but the system plows through the dips.
That said, Fitzgerald isn’t the kind of wunderkind offensive mind that the pros are currently drooling over. He’s only 46, but he’s decidedly old-school; the Wildcats are winning this year due to their sound defense, not creative play calling. This isn’t Lincoln Riley or even Kliff Kingsbury. It’s a hire from a generation ago.
But victories are victories, and Sunday was a testament to how the Bears’ lack of fundamentals can snatch defeat from the hands of victory.
As for Fitzgerald, there is no guarantee he would even talk with the franchise, let alone agree to coach the Bears. Through the years he has turned down every inquiry, from the NFL to virtually every powerhouse college program in the country.
A native of Chicago’s South Side, it has been impossible to pull him out of a city where he and his wife are happily raising three boys surrounded by family, lifelong friends and the White Sox and Blackhawks. This is home.
Whatever professional limitations come with coaching Northwestern – it doesn’t have the resources to win big, let alone compete for national titles – the school repays in convenience and contentment. His name rarely hits the annual college coaching gossip mill because he offers no hint that he’d go anywhere.
The Bears would solve the geographic problem and an emotional one as well. Like pretty much every kid from the area, he grew up dreaming of playing for the Bears. That didn’t pan out. Coaching them is a nice alternative.
Fitzgerald’s name once emerged as a possible candidate for the Green Bay Packers. He reportedly ran the concept past his kids, who rejected it immediately on account of the family being Bear fans. He agreed. Now that’s a Chicago Bear.
Fitzgerald may not coach a true national contender, but the job is still good for him. Loyalty and patience run both ways, so the occasional mediocre or worse season is excused. Plus, Northwestern recently constructed a $250 million football facility on the banks of Lake Michigan that may be better than any school anywhere. Fitzgerald says he can win Big Ten titles. He may even do it this season.
At 46, though, maybe it’s time for a new challenge? Maybe he realizes he has hit the reasonable ceiling. He could stay there forever, but a coach of that quality might want to set his sights higher.
The NFL would certainly provide that challenge. It’s the ultimate in football competition.
And if it didn’t work out, he could always return to the college level, only this time with even more credibility. He’d be the No. 1 candidate at pretty much whatever prime coaching gig that was open. He could then go there without hurting anyone’s feelings at Northwestern.
And that’s if it didn’t go well.
It very well might go great – Fitzgerald has never really lost at anything, after all.
Something has to give with the Bears. The solution to their sloppiness and dysfunction may be sitting right there at home. That is, if they can convince Pat Fitzgerald to finally leave Northwestern.
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