Play-calling switch not a cure-all
Nagy would still take heat for offensive woes if he made change
The confounding thing about the Bears offense is that inmany ways it looks like the same unit it was at this point a year ago when the Saints came to Soldier Field.
They had an extra week in 2019 to prepare for the Saints after traveling to London, where they lost to the Raiders. This time the Bears find themselves on a short week on the heels of Monday night’s road loss to the Rams.
Perhaps that’s a good thing considering the team is 5-0 under MattNagy when playing on a shor tweek. The Bears also are 8-4 coming off a loss under Nagy, and maybe those two statistics are evidence he and the coaching staff do a good job of flushing the previous game and immediately focus on the challenge ahead.
The offense has changed in the last year,and assistant coacheswere replaced. Nick Foles is at quarterback, the tight ends groupwas overhauled and rookieDarnell Mooney adds a speed element at wide receiver. Despite the changes, production through the 5-2 start has been maddeningly familiar to the morass of inconsistencies that plagued the organization a year ago when huge expectationswere dashed.
The running game remains one of the worst in the league— it’s ranked 32nd— and the Bears can’t seem to buy explosive plays — they’re 30th in yards per play. Too often they are forced to drive a long field needing eight, 10 or 12 or more plays, which leaves too many opportunities for error or big plays by the opponent. It’sworth noting the Saints are surrendering plenty of big plays on defense and have been quite penalty prone. They trounced the Bears a year ago with Teddy Bridgewater— who is nowwith the Carolina Panthers— at quarterback, but the Saints defense is much leakier in 2020.
Frustration has become unmistakable for almost everyone involved with the Bears offense, save formaybe Foles. Nagy clearly was peevedMonday night after the 24-10 loss to the Rams, when his defense outscored his offense 7-3. He has pledged never to turn negative and stopped short of that but stillwas agitated the following day.
“It’s our job to get this thing figured out. We are going to look at everything,” he said. “We’re all in this thing together. I knowit’s not an answer that you allwant to hear. Butwe have to keep plugging away.”
Foles seems to be of the belief a tight-knit roster eventually will lead to a breakthrough. Whether you buy that or categorize it as fanciful thinking probably depends on your level of belief in the offensive line, skill-position parts and Foles.
“If I had the answer right now, we probablywouldn’t be talking about it,” Foles said. “I’d say just keeping it real, this is where you test your culture. This is where you test the people youwork with, whether it’s the coaches and the players. Like, who arewe going to be? Arewe going to be in it together or arewe going to go against each other?
“That’s sort of the crossroads andwe’re very fortunate to be 5-2. Everything’s in front of us, season’s not over. That’s important to remind every single person, not only in the locker roombut out there. … We have to continue towork through this.”
Quarterback MitchTrubisky no longer is the fall guy, not by himself, anyway, and that turns the ire of the public onNagy with many clamoring for him to hand off playcalling duties, something that originated in 2019. Nagy said hewouldn’t do it last year and has said multiple times this season if that is a solution the staff agrees will help, the Bears will go that route. But they haven’t reached that conclusion.
Offensive coordinator Bill Lazorwould be the logical first choice to inherit playcalling responsibilities ifNagywere to delegate the job. Lazorwas the Bears’ second choice after they tried to hire Pat Shurmur, who instead chose to joinVic Fangio’sBroncos staff in January, presumably because that job came with the chance to call plays.
Lazor has called plays previously in Miami and Cincinnati, but the idea that putting him in charge of play calling is going to significantly reshape the offense seems a stretch. The Bears suddenly aren’t going to resemble the Chiefs in terms of production if Lazor or quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo— who previously called plays in Minnesota and Jacksonville— or passing game coordinatorDave Ragone is at the controls. The Bears are going to beworking fromthe same playbook. Itwon’t be like going from the menu at Steak ‘n Shake to the one at Gibson’s.
At the start of the season, 13 head coaches doubled as offensive play callers. That number was reduced to 12 lastweek when Adam Gase passed the job to Jets offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains. The group includes four Super Bowl winners— Andy Reid in Kansas City, Jon Gruden in Las Vegas, Sean Payton in New Orleans and Doug Pederson in Philadelphia. Two are Super Bowl runners-up— Sean McVay with the Rams and Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. Frank Reich in Indianapolis and Matt LaFleur in Green Bay each won a playoff game last year in their first seasons in the dual role. Nagy has reached the playoffs once and lost, and the rest of the group is made up of first-year coach Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland and second-year coaches Kliff Kingsbury in Arizona and Zac Taylor in Cincinnati.
For reference, six head coaches make the defensive calls for their teams, a group led by the New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick. Tennessee Titans’ MikeVrabel, Detroit Lions’Matt Patricia, Minnesota Vikings’ Mike Zimmer and Fangio. Interim Falcons coach Raheem Morris shares play-calling responsibilities with defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
“I’ve been on a ton of staffs, a lot ofways to do it,” Lazor said. “One time I had a head coach say, ‘Hey, guys, on gameday I really don’t want any talking on the headsets.’ He said, ‘I hired you guys because I trust you, so if you have an idea on gameday, it will probably be the right thing. But if you give an idea and it doesn’t work, I’m going to blame you, so you’re better off if you just don’t say anything.’ ”
Oneweek at a time, the Bears go about trying to improve. It’s grossly oversimplified to suggest changing play callers will fix things. Sure, giving Lazor or another assistant the task might spark the offense. The flip side is the Bears could continue to slog their way through the season on offense, and in that situation, where would that leave Nagy? He still would be in charge —and the one taking the heat.
The Bears are in a deep funk on offense— one that spans more than a calendar year— but they have yet to lose consecutive games this season. And that cannot be overlooked by those calling most loudly for Nagy to make a change.