Insider Hearing Chicago Bears Will "Clean House" After Season Ends

The Chicago Bears remain quiet on their future plans to this point. Four games remain in the season. After a 5-1 start, they've plummeted to 5-7. One of the biggest collapses in team history. For this reason along with a few others, there is serious speculation on what awaits the current power structure once the season comes to a close on January 4th. GM Ryan Pace, head coach Matt Nagy, and even team president Ted Phillips have their jobs being called into question. Pace is in danger of seeing his team fail to post a winning record for the fifth time in six seasons. Nagy's precious offensive system has once again failed to deliver. Phillips, in his 21st year on the job, could see the team fail to make the playoffs again. They've done so just five times during his tenure.

It's not hard to see why these men are sitting on scorching hot seats.

Still, this is the McCaskey family we're talking about. They're ownership that isn't exactly known for rocking the boat in terms of major changes if they can avoid it. Would they actually consider a full purge in order to start fresh next year? NFL insider Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network thinks so. Everything he's heard up to this point says it's going that way. The term used is "house cleaning." Not only that but Pauline seems to have an idea on who they might be eyeing for the next head coach. That being Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald. [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/NFL-News-and-Rumors-The-latest-regarding-head-coaches-on-the-hot-seat-CFB-underclassmen-and-more001705.000-001812.033.mp4"][/video]

Chicago Bears seem set on their course at this point

Nagy and Pace haven't been fired yet. That isn't a surprise. The McCaskey family has never fired a head coach or GM during a season in their almost 40 years of running the organization. If Marc Trestman and Phil Emery didn't get the boot back in 2014? It was never likely to happen with these two. Besides, there still remains an outside chance the team can make the playoffs. A sweep of the last four games would put them at 9-7 and perhaps into the final wild card spot. Nobody believes that is going to happen with the way this team has played for the last two months. The defense just gave up 34 points in back-to-back games. The offense continues to play sloppy football with too many turnovers. Even with a somewhat lighter schedule this month it doesn't feel like they're capable of rattling off four in a row. Hence why many feel the current regime is out.

As for the Fitzgerald rumor?

Pauline is the second national insider to bring up his name. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports was the first. This is something that's been speculated for a long time. Fitzgerald is a hometown boy who has coached at Northwestern since 2006. There is strong interest in him from NFL teams but it's believed the only job he'd consider is the Chicago Bears. Both for sentimental and logistical reasons. That being said, neither Pauline nor La Canfora has demonstrated strong inside knowledge with the Bears before. So their assessments that he is the leader in the clubhouse for the job should be taken with a few grains of salt.