Hub Arkush: If Bears are panicked by losing streak, they’re certainly not showing it

How tight are the collars getting on Chicago Bears front office personnel, coaches and players as their five-game losing streak lingers on?

Bears coaches and players continually assure us it’s not something they think about, they’ve been through streaks like this before and the only game that matters is the next one.

That’s why it was somewhat fascinating when asked a question Thursday about the challenges presented by Detroit's 35-year-old running back, Adrian Peterson, defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano slipped off the rails mid-answer and left it extremely unclear as to whether he and his guys really aren’t losing any sleep over their current predicament or if it is perhaps weighing on them a bit more than they’re letting on.

“Yeah, a lot of the same things we’ve seen ever since he entered this league," Pagano said of Peterson. "He did a nice job and we didn’t do a good enough job in Week 1. We have to be better against him.

“We’ve got to be better against [D'Andre] Swift. I mean, the quarterback is phenomenal, he’s a gunslinger, he’s got all the arm talent, we know that, how good Stafford is.

“They’re gonna come in loose as all get-out. They’ve got a really good offense and they’ve got really good players and they’re gonna get [Kenny] Golladay back and [Marvin Jones] and [Danny Amendola] and the tight ends [T.J. Hockenson, Jesse James, Isaac Nauta].

“We got our hands full. So … there’s no stress or pressure here, believe me. What are you gonna do?

“They can’t eat you, you know?” – Pagano was laughing at this point but...

“You’ve got to saddle up and put all that crap behind you and move on and watch the tape and practice and stick to the process and keep swinging and keep fighting.

“I told the guys, it’s a privilege to play and coach in the National Football League. We’re playing and coaching a kids’ game.

“You can turn the TV off and look around and there’s a lot of crap that’s going on that’s a hell of a lot worse than what we went through Sunday or are ever going to go through in a football game – real-life stuff.

“I’m going off on a tangent – but there’s a lot of stuff going on that, and we’re playing and coaching a kid’s game.

“It’s such a privilege. We don’t take any days for granted. We don’t take any opportunities for granted. And our guys get that.

“Thank God that wasn’t the last game, you know? So we got another opportunity, and the next one is all that matters, and we just got to find a way to get this stink off us and get a (win).”

If you know Pagano the man, Pagano the cancer survivor, you know he wasn’t showing his inner panic, he was confirming its absence and explaining to us all why.

Spontaneously or premeditated I can’t say, but clearly what Pagano was saying was just like each and every one of you, there is a lot more going on in our lives these days than winning and losing football games.

Who do you know that didn’t predict the Bears would finish somewhere between 10-6 and 5-11 this year?

If you expected the Bears to be 7-9, 8-8 or 9-7, should people be fired for doing exactly what you expected them to, and doing it in the most impossible of conditions with no offseason, no preseason, no exhibition season and one if not both hands tied behind their backs all through the season with the COVID-19 mitigation practices they’ve had to follow 24/7 since before Week 1?

On opening day this season, one year removed from NFL Coach and Executive of the Year awards, there was no way Ryan Pace’s and Matt Nagy’s jobs – and therefore everybody who works for them – were in jeopardy.

Should they fail to win another game or perhaps win just one more, some will argue change is necessary just for change's sake. Perhaps they’ll have a point.

But having the conversation right now is really silly, and should they finish exactly where we expected them to – in spite of all they’ve faced just to play this season – it may be they should all get raises rather than fired.