After a 2-2 draw with Inter Miami, Nashville SC are back at Geodis Park, taking on Chicago Fire while knowing that a win will guarantee their spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
To get the latest on the Fire, we chatted with Tim Hotze of Men In Red 97.
Chicago's premier source for soccer news and analysis covering the Chicago Fire, MLS, and more.
Ben Wright (SixOneFive Soccer): The Fire are down to fifth in the East and haven't seemed the same since the World Cup break. What's been going on?
Tim Hotze (Men In Red 97): Despite being third in the East less than two weeks ago, it's really been a year of change for the Fire.
Early on, the team was trying to find ways to play without Brian Gutiérrez, after his sale to Chivas and André Franco, who who changed the team's trajectory in the short time before he was injured last fall. Between the team being short on creative midfielders (without taking players like Philip Zinckernagel out of their most productive positions) and to prepare for a possible future with Robert Lewandowski and Hugo Cuypers, the Fire spent much of the spring testing out a 4-4-2.
Through the spring, the Fire managed to get results out of that system, mostly against weaker opponents. However, it was never entirely convincing. Fortunately, the team ‒ which had been the league's second-highest scoring offense last year ‒ gained significant defensive stability (which had almost entirely eluded the team last year) with the addition of Mbekezeli Mbokazi in defense and Anton Salétros helping solidify the midfield's shape. After the World Cup, the playbook had to get tossed again after Lewandowski's arrival Cuypers' departure, with a long-term injury to Mbokazi causing further headaches for the team.
Despite that, the team managed to grind out six straight wins across all competitions through August, including victories over current Liga MX champs Cruz Azul and Orlando City (one of just two league losses for the Lions after Antoine Griezmann's arrival). Since then, the same issues with the team around chance creation have started catching up with the Fire, and the team went from winning to drawing, last Sunday, to losing for the first time since July.
The results have varied, and arguably, the Fire played well enough to take all three points in several of those draws, but that's besides the point: regardless of results, the pattern has been the same: Creative chance generation has been an issue that's kept the squad from league's highest echelon, and it's been too easy to catch the Fire in transition moments after losing Mbokazi and the mobility he brought to the center back position. Some of them ‒ like the arrival of Robert Lewandowski ‒ has been voluntary, while others like Hugo Cuypers's departure or injury troubles, has been forced.
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BW: Robert Lewandowski was one of the biggest summer signings. How has he adjusted to MLS, and how has the team adapted around him?
TH: The mutual adjustment period is ongoing.
Hugo Cuypers was a high-end goalscorer, but while he was in MLS, his pressing and hold-up play were very important – if too often overlooked – aspects of what he brought to the Fire. Lewandowski, at 38, doesn't press in the same way (nor has he been asked to), and you can tell that the group is still feeling out patterns of play to best leverage one of the most lethal goal-scorers of all time.
Hard to criticize the Fire's decision to sign Robert Lewandowski, but they're pressing a lot less and struggling a lot more defensively without Hugo Cuypers. With Cuypers: 0.75 GA/game (6th), 0.97 xGA/game (5th) With Lewandowski: 1.40 GA/game (21st), 1.15 xGA/game (11th)
— Ben Wright (@benwright.bsky.social) September 13, 2026 at 9:49 PM
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