When does the fun begin?
Nagy promised good times on offense, but in his 3rd season, hope is starting to fade
Seven games into his third season, Bears coach Matt Nagy has an offense that’s getting worse when it’s supposed to be better. Its estimated time of arrival is now “See Agent.” QuarterbackNick Foles is no better than Mitch Trubisky— statistically worse, in fact. The offensive line not only is regressing, but losing its best building blocks. Left guard James Daniels is out for the season, and center Cody Whitehair is out with a calf injury. Undrafted free agent Sam Mustipher will make his first NFL start Sunday against the Saints.
Wide receiver Allen Robinson is in the concussion protocol and unlikely to play. Wide receiver Anthony Miller, who was supposed to be the go-to guy with Robinson out,
keeps fading in and out like a bad wireless connection. He has caught two game-winning touchdown passes — and disappeared in the offense the following week each time.
Tight end Cole Kmet caught a 38-yard pass in the first quarter against the Rams — the Bears’ longest pass play to a tight end in two years — and after catching a seven-yard pass on the next play, he was never targeted again. A week after the Bears were called for a delay-of-game penalty following a timeout, they called timeouts on consecutive offensive plays against the Rams because of communication errors.
But as each red flag that casts more doubt on the direction of his offense pops up, Nagy casts them aside and remains focused on the process with unwavering confidence.
“We’re 5-1 right now, and we’re not playing well offensively,” Nagy said the day after a 23-16 victory over the Panthers, deflecting a question about another shaky offensive-line performance. “So when we get this thing up and running, which we will, it’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Nagy’s certainty — “which we will” — is starting to ring a little hollow in his third season. It’s not just that the offense is spinning its wheels after an offseason of change, but there are no flashes and few if any beacons of hope.
Since Foles ignited a 20-point comeback in the fourth quarter of a 30-26 victory against the Falcons in Week 3, the Bears’ offense has scored 11 points against the Colts, 20 against the Buccaneers, 23 against the Panthers and three against the Rams. Its longest play in that span is Robinson’s 42-yard catch against the Rams— when they trailed 24-3.
So three years into his tenure, Nagy is becoming a paradox and a rarity. There have been numerous successful coordinators who have failed as head coaches in the NFL. Nagy is a successful head coach who is failing as a coordinator.
And Nagy deserves the credit as an effective head coach. He’s responsible for the cherished “culture” at Halas Hall. And in this day and age, a good culture is invaluable and, for the most part, necessary — especially when your defense annually ranks in the top 10 in the league and your offense is near the bottom.
But he was hired to give the Bears an offense that would be the star of the show, and he’s not even close. For as adept as Nagy is at the CEO part of his job, it’s fair to wonder at this point if he has the schematic or play-calling chops to get the job done. The design of Nagy’s offense seems to fool the Bears more than the opposition. And Nagy’s play-calling rarely seems to keep the defense on its heels and off balance.
The Bears’ offense is effective in desperation. But when it’s a chess match, the Bears often seem one move behind. Nagy’s offense rarely makes a good defense pick its poison. Against the Colts, Foles lamented the Bears’
inability to make the defense pay for taking away the deep ball — the Bears gained 269 yards.
“[The Colts] were playing their safeties pretty deep, which makes it a little harder to get over the top,” Foles said after the 19-11 loss Oct. 4. “They were giving us some underneath stuff, but they were doing a good job. We’d hit an underneath route, and they’d stop it right there. They’re a good team. They outplayed us. They out-executed us. We hurt ourselves. We have to be better in those moments.”
It’s not happening fast enough. Two weeks later, the Panthers tried a similar tack — “They play a lot of zone, so it’s hard to hit those deep plays,” Foles said — and the Bears gained only 261 yards.
Foles, in fact, seems to have a better feel for Nagy’s offense than Nagy does — an old red flag from the Gary Crowton era, when Shane Matthews called Crowton’s offense better than Crowton did in scoring two late touchdowns in no-huddle to beat Mike Ditka’s Saints 14-10 in 1999 under Dick Jauron.
Foles and Nagy are preaching patience,
but how long should it take? The Super Bowl coaches Nagy aspires to emulate didn’t take this long. Andy Reid’s Eagles were ninth in scoring in his third season; Sean Payton’s Saints went from 31st to fifth in scoring in his first season. Even in Nagy’s weight class, he’s behind the curve. Doug Pederson’s Eagles went from 16th to third in scoring in his second season. Sean McVay’s Rams went from 32nd to first in scoring in his first season (and since have dropped to second, 11th and 18th). Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers went from 21st to second in scoring in his third season.
Nagy’s frustration showed in the aftermath of the 24-10 loss to the Rams.
“This is hard,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve never been a part of this before. For all of us, it’s very frustrating trying to figure out answers. . . . That’s the part that stings, just trying to get that thing right, and it hasn’t happened.”
But that was the emotion of the moment. ByWednesday, Nagy was his confident self, undaunted by the pressure of improving an offense ranked 29th in yards, 32nd in rushing, 25th in passing, 30th in third-down efficiency and 27th in scoring.
“This is what I signed up for,” Nagy said. “You’ve got to be able to handle when things are a little bit tough. I feel like I’m built for it. And our team is built for it.”
Nagy is over the “raw emotion” of postgame frustration.
“And now here we are,” he said. “We’re at a position where we get to play another game. This is all part of the sport. This is still a part of where we’re at. If you’re a competitor, you fight through it.”
Near themidway point of his third season, though, Nagy’s offense is more hope than promise. If he gets this thing up and running, which he might, it’s gonna be fun. As certain as Nagy is, in reality it’s one big if.
“This is what i signed up for. You’ve got to be able to handle when things are a little bit tough. I feel like I’m built for it. And our team is built for it.”
Matt Nagy