The status of Bears coach Matt Nagy for Sunday's home game against the 49ers may not be determined until hours before kickoff.
Nagy remained quarantined away from Halas Hall Friday after testing positive for COVID-19 Monday. Because he's fully vaccinated, the Bears coach can be removed from the COVID list following two negative tests 24 hours apart, as long as he is asymptomatic.
"I'll know on Sunday morning when 'Dre (Bears head trainer Andre Tucker) tells me, 'You're on or off the list,'" Nagy said.
With the Bears having enacted stricter COVID protocols this week, all meetings have been conducted virtually. Nagy has led those sessions via Zoom while watching practices on an iPad.
Given that missing Sunday's game is a real possibility for Nagy, he has worked on a contingency plan that includes special teams coordinator Chris Tabor assuming head-coaching duties versus the 49ers.
"I've had to do that because that's definitely something that could happen," Nagy said. "Really from the time that I was put on the COVID protocol, you have to go through all of those situations, and that's what I've been able to do with the coaching staff and just being able to have constant conversations with these guys.
"There's a lot of stuff that goes on on gameday and [I'm] just making sure we're all on the same page and all of that. We'll be fully prepared, and that's again where it kind of goes into the trust and belief in your coaches and players."
Nagy has been in constant communication with Tabor, who ran practices this week at Halas Hall.
"We've been discussing throughout the week just different scenarios and different things so I can help him out as much as possible," Nagy said. "Some things he might not think of on gameday, whether it's with the coaches, whether it's with the players, mindset of anything game situation-wise that we want to go into in this particular game.
"Coach 'Tabes' has been great with all that. We do a lot of that anyway, him being the special teams coordinator and [what] I do with the coordinators. But now that he's in that role where he'd end up having to be the guy that makes the decisions, [I'm] just giving him support so that he feels good and understands. And then a lot of it, too, when you're in the moment, there's some things you just can't predict. There's a feel to it as well, and that's where that feel will come into play, and we have a nice little plan in place if that's the case."
