If it had been a cartoon, mushroom clouds would have been bursting from Nagy’s ears with a train whistle screaming above his head. But this was real life, the postmortem after the Chicago Bears’ 17-16 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Oct. 27.
A promising Sunday had ended in distress when kicker Eddy Pineiro pulled his 41-yard field-goal attempt, the fall breeze steering the football just outside the left upright.
And that kick had missed its mark after Nagy grew anxious and conservative in the final minute, opting to have his offense take a knee and a 1-yard loss on first down with 43 seconds remaining rather than try to shorten the game-deciding attempt.