Aaron, Renée and I Thank You

   Well, I won’t have to worry about missing a meaningful Bears-Vikings’ game December 29.  Aaron Rodgers and the Packers took care of that at Lambeau Field yesterday afternoon by beating the Munsters, 21-13.

Allow me a few random thoughts before moving on to a main point.  First, Bears’ quarterback Mitch Trubisky may not be as bad as his critics think.  Put Rodgers on the Bears, saddle him with the same offensive line and play-calling Trubisky’s stuck with, and I bet you’d see one suddenly diminished future Hall of Famer.  Free Trubisky from coach Matt Nagy’s play calling (swing pass, run, sideline pass, repeat), and I bet you wouldn’t see anything worse than the second coming of Erik Kramer.

Second random thought—does Bears’ linebacker Khalil Mack, he of the $141 million contract, get an award for his role as the Invisible Man on defense?  Mack managed one tackle and zero sacks on the afternoon, not the first time he’s put up goose-egg stats.  Either Mack returns to form real fast next season, or the Bears will have themselves a major problem.

And now for my main point: Matt Nagy is an egg waiting to crack.  I sense it every time Nagy talks about team and culture or says, as he did after yesterday’s loss, “I’m going to stay positive with our guys because I appreciate their fight.”  Hmm.

This is more than just irritating “sunshine” talk, which has been coming out of Nagy’s mouth from the day he was hired to replace that ol’ carbuncle, John Fox.  I suspect Nagy sees himself as much as a parent as a coach, faithful and forgiving to a fault.  A person like that is likely to see criticism from a player—and if the team plays the same way next year, that criticism is coming, folks—as betrayal.  When that happens, things have a way of going from bad to worse.

See ya’ next year, guys.