IDIOT OF THE YEAR: 40 of the dullest tools from 2021’s shed

There’s probably no one on this list who is more willing to admit he’s an idiot, while doing nothing to change it and taking no responsibility for it, than Matt Nagy. We’ve spent the whole season illustrating all the things he can’t or won’t do despite his status as a supposed offensive genius. He doesn’t protect his rookie QB, he doesn’t make things easy, doesn’t stick with what’s working, doesn’t have a plan, doesn’t see what would be his salvation, and so on forever.

The thing with Nagy is, he’ll tell you that. Every postgame presser is filled with, “Yeah, we gotta look at that.” Or, “That’s on me, I have to be better about that.” Or, “That was my call.” So he doesn’t run from his idiocy. He acknowledges it, which I guess puts him a half-notch above Urban Meyer, who bus tossed so many people on his way out that all Jacksonville public transportation vehicles come with a cow-catcher.

And yet nothing ever changed in Chicago. All the same mistakes kept getting made. Which makes it sad, mostly. Nagy can see the problems, and he knows it’s his fault. And yet he can’t see that there’s another way. He thinks he has to keep running into the same wall. He can’t walk around it. He can’t go over it, even though that’s what everyone else does. He must not think he’s worthy of another plan, another method. It’s tragic, in a way.