Nagy says he was wrong to ream out line judge
Coach Matt Nagy couldn’t believe that officials stopped the play when the Bears sprinted their punt team off the field and their offense back on it with 1:45 left in the first half Sunday against the Rams.
He didn’t know it in the moment, but right tackle Bobby Massie knocked down line judge Carl Johnson while running onto the field, causing Johnson to stop play.
By halftime, Nagy knew he was wrong to have sprinted onto the field screaming. After the game and again Monday, he apologized for freaking out.
“[Johnson] got knocked down, and then he was trying to recover and he couldn’t,” Nagy said. “He did the right thing by stopping the play.
“At that point in time, that’s such a crucial part of the game. My emotions … you prep for that time, you prep for that situation. I talked to those guys. I apologized to them. I told them that they did the right thing and we need to coach that play better so that our guys don’t do that.”
The heaviest ‘heavy’ formation?
With four defensive linemen and six offensive linemen on the field together for tackle Bradley Sowell’s “Santa Sleigh” touchdown, the Bears might have featured one of the heaviest “heavy” formations in NFL history.
“There’s a lot of beef out there,” Nagy said.
Try 3,292 pounds — or 1.65 tons. The Bears used their starting offensive line, plus Sowell. Four defenders took the field — Akiem Hicks, who lined up at running back, plus Roy Robertson-Harris, Jonathan Bullard and Bilal Nichols.
The formation wasn’t the heaviest in league history. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, it was the heaviest since 2016, when Chiefs nose tackle Dontari Poe threw a touchdown pass in a 3,000-pound lineup. Nagy was his coordinator.
The Bears put the pass to their backup tackle in the playbook Friday. Nagy said the plan was to confuse the defense with unusual personnel.
“Any advantage you can get,” Nagy said. “And now you gotta be able to make sure it’s something that you feel like [it] can be worthwhile and not foolish.”
Callahan being evaluated
The Bears will evaluate slot cornerback Bryce Callahan’s left foot over the next day or so, Nagy said. Callahan left the game in the second quarter and didn’t return.
Callahan has appeared in all 13 games this season, starting 10, and posted two sacks and two interceptions. Even after missing more than a half Sunday, he has played in 77.4 percent of the Bears’ defensive snaps.
False flag?
With the Bears punting with 7:27 left in the game, tight end Ben Braunecker committed an egregious — or was it intentional? — false start. Leading 15-6, the Bears got to run another 25 seconds off the clock.
Asked directly if the false start was intentional, Nagy did a bad job of denying it.
“He false-started,” Nagy deadpanned. “You thought it was intentional?
“That helps us, for sure. But no, that’s Braunecker. I’m gonna get on him for doing that.”