GRADING NAGY: A D FOR THIS ‘O’
Fans will cringe at midseason report card that pulls no punches about team’s shortcomings
Our Bears beat reporters reveal their grades for the NFL’s reigning Coach of the Year — and it’s not pretty.
Halfway through the Bears’ season — which hasn’t gone according to plan — the Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley, Jason Lieser and Mark Potash analyze what has gone wrong and what to expect the rest of the way:
Matt Nagy’s grade halfway through the season is:
FINLEY: C-. His quarterback looks worse today than he ever did last year. He flew to London late — and lost. He didn’t ask Eddy Pineiro for his hash-mark preference — and the kicker missed the gamewinner. Nagy lost to the Bears’ rival and Khalil Mack’s old team. He lost three home games before Halloween. And yet, at 3-5, he hasn’t lost the locker room. Nagy The Leader just barely saves Nagy The Decision-maker from getting a D.
LIESER: D. Nagy was hired to do two main things: Develop a quarterback and give the Bears a top-10 offense — rarities in Chicago over the last several decades. While they made progress last season, he presides over the league’s fourth-worst offense, and Mitch Trubisky has regressed across the board.
POTASH: D. When there are that many points of regression — Trubisky, the offensive line, Tarik Cohen, Trey Burton, Anthony Miller, the running back, etc., etc., — it points the finger squarely at Nagy. The league has caught up to his offensive style, and he has yet to respond.
What should they do at quarterback, now and in the future?
FINLEY: Play Trubisky this season, and pray like hell the light goes on. Their shortest route to success remains having a functional quarterback on a rookie salary. Next year, the Bears must replace backup Chase Daniel with a quarterback — Marcus Mariota? Cam Newton? — to truly compete with Trubisky for the starting job. Free agency seems the likely path for a team with so few draft picks.
LIESER: Daniel should play Sunday. He won’t, as Trubisky continues to get unearned job security. Beyond this season, the Bears must pay up for a stopgap quarterback — Teddy Bridgewater sounds good — and draft one in the first round in 2021.
POTASH: The Bears have little choice but to stick with Trubisky and hope that Nagy finally finds a way to spark the offense and give Trubisky a chance to at least be as good as he was last year. That’s still a winning formula with this defense. Barring a phenomenal turnaround by Trubisky, the Bears should bring in a quality veteran and a Day 2 draftee to challenge Trubisky in 2020. But if the problem is Nagy, will that even make a difference?
The Bears’ best position group:
FINLEY: Outside linebacker. Any group with Khalil Mack in it gets my vote. And Leonard Floyd has been good against the run, if once again underwhelming again as a pass rusher.
LIESER: Their secondary. This crew is tremendous, and any team in the league would be thrilled to be this good. Eddie Jackson makes a case for being the best safety in the NFL, and his partner, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, is having a bounce-back season. Kyle Fuller has been one of the team’s best players, Prince Amukamara is dependable and Buster Skrine has been a good pick-up underneath.
POTASH: The defensive line has done a yeoman’s job, despite injuries to Akiem Hicks, Bilal Nichols and now Eddie Goldman. Depth is solid, with Nick Williams and Roy Robertson-Harris providing starter-quality snaps most of the season.
The Bears’ worst position group:
FINLEY: Banged-up Trey Burton has 84 receiving yards. He topped that against the Buccaneers last year and again against the Patriots. The Bears’ four tight ends have 27 catches for 205 yards. There are 24 tight ends with more receiving yards all by themselves, including such luminaries as Irv Smith Jr., Jordan Akins and Jonnu Smith. Honorable mention, though, goes to the Bears’ most disappointing unit, the well-paid offensive line. Football Outsiders considers the Bears the No. 18 pass-blocking group in the league and the fourth-worst run blocking unit.
LIESER: Quarterback. Not only for the poor play of Trubisky (his 80 passer rating ranks 29th, behind multiple quarterbacks who have already been demoted), but for general manager Ryan Pace’s poor planning. It’s inexcusable that they don’t have any young talent in reserve. At the bare minimum, they should have a developmental quarterback on the practice squad instead of 27-year-old Tyler Bray.
POTASH: The Bears have created a new football adage: “The team that has seven tight ends on its roster has none.” One of the key positions in Nagy’s offense has been a resounding failure. Burton has become really high-maintenance, unproductive when he’s not absolutely 100 percent. Adam Shaheen just hasn’t worked out.
Khalil Mack has been:
FINLEY: Much like the Bears’ defense: good but not as electric as last year. With Hicks out, he’s getting double-teamed, chipped and cut more than last season. He has only 5½ sacks but is usually the best player on the field.
LIESER: Squandered. The Bears, primarily because of their incompetence on offense, are wasting a prime year of a generational talent. He’ll be 29 at the start of next season.
POTASH: Effective but not unstoppable. He’s every bit the player he was last year, but opponents have made a concerted effort to force somebody else to beat them. And with Hicks out of the picture, nobody has consistently stepped up and taken advantage. Neither Floyd nor Roquan Smith has blossomed.
How the Bears can pull out of their spiral:
FINLEY: Go old-school. Hand off to rookie David Montgomery. Let Trubisky run playaction and keep the ball sometimes. Hope for some 2018 turnover magic from your defense. Wait, did I just channel John Fox?
LIESER: Manufacture a ground game. The Bears are bottom-six in rushing yards per game (80.5) and per carry (3.6), and they certainly aren’t going to throw their way into the playoffs. In half of their games, by the way, their leading rusher has been at 40 yards or fewer. But if they fix the offensive line, they have good runners in Montgomery and Cohen.
POTASH: Fix the offensive line, which might be an impossible task. The line was much more workmanlike than elite last year, but the inability to match even last year’s modest standard is one of several mystifying aspects of the 2019 regression.
The Bears’ final record:
FINLEY: 7-9, because they’ll benefit from the Vikings not needing to win in Week 17.
LIESER: 6-10. They’ll keep fighting because they have no first-round pick this year and no incentive to tank, but they might go winless against their December schedule.
POTASH: 5-11. Unlike last year’s team, this one — with virtually the same cast — doesn’t look like it has the ability to raise its game to meet the challenge ahead. ✶