Halas Intrigue Bears Report: Final countdown

The Bears got an easy win over the awful Giants on Sunday, but that likely won’t change the Matt Nagy’s fate. Read the latest coverage and analysis below.

A round of applause, please, for the thousands of Bears fans who decided not to show up for Sunday’s game at Soldier Field. The reason for their non-attendance could have been winter-related, but more likely it was Bears-related, anger-related and I-can’t-take-any-more-of-this-related. They spoke with their absence: Why support something that doesn’t deserve support?

As for the fans who did make an appearance, maybe they were nostalgic for Mike Glennon’s four starts for the Bears in 2017.

He and the Giants showed up for the apparent purpose of making the home team feel better about itself. The result was a 29-3 Bears’ victory and a game that had the nutritional value of a Pop Tart. There was some meaning to it, though. Its conclusion meant that this nightmare of a season has only one game left.

Coach Matt Nagy would like you to know that his team has fought and cared to the very end, which probably means something somewhere, but not in the standings. The Bears are 6-10, the Giants are 4-12 and thank goodness Sunday is over.

Sometime after the Bears caused Mike Glennon to fumble on the first play of the game and forced him to throw an interception on the second drive Sunday came a scary thought: the team on the opposite sideline could be the Bears in two years.

That should absolutely frighten the Bears. And management should take every measure, starting next week, to make sure it doesn’t come to pass. With their starting quarterback out for the last month and no incentive to actually win — the Giants own their own first-round pick, as well as the Bears’ — the Giants looked every bit the worst team in football Sunday. The Bears’ first five wins of the season came by a combined 27 points; Sunday’s came by 26.

The 29-3 win at a plenty-of-good-seats-still-available Soldier Field means nothing to the Bears — other than being a cautionary tale.

Bears fans at Soldier Field are criticized for not knowing to be quiet when the offense has a big third down to convert. But they are locked into everything that happens on defense — conditioned by years of excellence.

So the anticipation of Robert Quinn breaking Richard Dent’s single-season sack record was palpable Sunday in the Bears’ home finale against the Giants.

Just when it looked like it wasn’t Quinn’s day after a couple of near misses, the veteran linebacker made history. Quinn beat a chip by tight end Evan Engram and flew past left tackle Andrew Thomas to strip the ball from Mike Glennon for his 18th sack of the season — breaking Dent’s record of 17.5 sacks in 1984.

Quinn was typically subdued about breaking the record of a revered Bears Hall of Fame player. And truth be told, Quinn has had more sacks in a season — 19 with the Rams in 2013, his third season in the NFL.

“It’s an honor,” Quinn said. “Like you said, a Hall of Famer in Richard Dent — I guess to take the record [from him] it’s an honor. But … I’ve just got to make sure I keep building my resume the right way. I don’t know. At the end of the day I just keep doing my job.”

Patrick Finley and Jason Lieser break down the Bears’ 29-3 win against the Giants and set up what figures to be the last week of Matt Nagy’s tenure. LISTEN HERE.

Thanks for reading the Halas Intrigue Bears Report. Invite your friends, relatives, co-workers and Packers fans to sign up here.