Matt Nagy was as clear as mud about who will call offensive plays Sunday when the Lions come to Soldier Field.

That’s what the Bears offense has been stuck in — mud — coming off a horrendous effort in a 26-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns in which the Bears, with rookie Justin Fields at quarterback, totaled 47 net yards in 42 snaps.

Nagy had said Monday that “everything is on the table” as the Bears (1-2) tried to determine where everything went wrong. That opened the possibility the fourth-year coach would assign play-calling responsibilities to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, as he did after nine games in 2020.

But the only development learned in a nearly 18-minute news conference Wednesday was that Andy Dalton, knocked out of the Week 2 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals with a bone bruise in his left knee, was expected to practice at least on a limited basis Wednesday afternoon.

Fields, coming off a hand injury suffered on one of the many hits he took from the Browns, also was expected to practice in some capacity. Dalton remains atop the depth chart at quarterback, but it sounds as if the team will be able to push off an announcement — at least for a day or two — about who will start against the winless Lions (0-3).

Otherwise, an energetic Nagy, who said criticism was fair, gave long answers to questions about the offense that didn’t reveal much of anything. If you’re reading between the lines and interpreting what wasn’t said as much as what was, the fact he didn’t double or triple down on his play-calling abilities and proclaim he’s continuing in the role indicates a good chance that Lazor and/or others will be calling plays.

“The best part of the last 48 to 72 hours is we’ve had some amazing, healthy conversations between coaches and coaches, between coaches and players, players and players, players and coaches,” Nagy said when asked directly if he had decided who will call plays Sunday. “That’s what I appreciate most, and so without getting into specifics of what we’re going to do and (who) we’re going to do it with — not just that stuff but other topics — I’m going to keep that internal and I think that’s the best part right now for us.”

Why obfuscate now when he was transparent about giving Lazor the role before the Week 10 meeting with the Minnesota Vikings in 2020?

“There’s a probably a lot of stuff that goes on in the NFL with play calling that a lot of us don’t know and we think we do, myself included,” Nagy said. “All that aside, it’s about clear communication on the why and that’s what we’re going to do, and now we get an opportunity to do it against a division opponent that we’ve been focusing on the last two days.”

Rest assured, Nagy had to have been crystal clear with those above him in the Halas Hall hierarchy about what he planned to do after the debacle in Cleveland. He was hired to fix this offense, and now the project is to do that while developing Fields, the future of the franchise.

In 45 games (including postseason) with Nagy as the play caller, the Bears offense has failed to top 20 points 28 times. It has failed to score a first-half touchdown in 20 games and has been held below 300 total yards 21 times.

I’m not sure it matters what Nagy says midweek. Would a public announcement that Lazor, quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo or anyone else is calling plays be meaningful? Nothing will matter until the Bears can be significantly better on offense on Sundays. Until then, everything that happens from one game to the next is empty talk.

The Lions rank 29th in yards per play allowed and 32nd in passing yards per play. Opponents are hitting their secondary for 10.3 yards per pass attempt, and opposing quarterbacks have a 123.2 passer rating. So while the Lions have been playing hard for new coach Dan Campbell, they seem to be the perfect opponent for the Bears and Nagy, who appears to be under siege and surely must know that — even as he professes to have insulated himself from outside noise.

“When you go through a bad, ugly game like that, there’s a lot of emotions that come into play,” Nagy said. “There’s a lot of opinions that come into play, and that’s only fair. You have to be able to accept that. You’ve got to be able to have tough conversations, and I feel like that’s one of my strengths is to have a tough conversation individually, one on one. Sometimes with the group but also to be able to talk to the guys and say, ‘Hey, man, what’s the deal?’

“When you do that, it gives you a sense of calm and understanding that you’re coming up with answers. You still need to fix it. You still need to go out and produce the next week. There is a lot of stuff that we need to correct. But when you have those conversations, it makes it a hell of a lot easier to be able to trust each other.

“You have these healthy conversations and you realize, man, let’s go. Pick it back up and let’s go. It’s time to fight.”

If the Bears don’t make significant improvements, it won’t matter who is calling plays.