 During the season, he underwent surgery for cataracts that were making it difficult for him to read the game plans.He continued to express optimism over the season, even after a slow start and an embarrassing 44–9 loss to the Chicago Bears, as he felt that there was no dominant team in the division.McKay's wisecracking remark to a Kansas City Star reporter to the effect that a loss to the Chiefs would result in another Sam Rutigliano (the Cleveland Browns coach who had been fired the previous week) led to speculation of his imminent firing, which McKay shot down at the postgame press conference.