Matt Nagy was terrific in 2018 for the Chicago Bears. That’s why he won Coach of the Year. He learned fast that the NFL doesn’t care about past accomplishments. In a game that seemed to have almost every advantage in his team’s direction, the second-year coach ended up delivering his worst performance since taking the job. Everything about an opening night 10-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers seemed to find its way back to him.
It, of course, started with his offense. Nagy constantly said that the group was up to 202 in terms of understanding the system. It sure as hell didn’t seem that way. Mitch Trubisky looked jittery and out of sorts the entire game. It certainly didn’t help that Nagy had him throw the ball 45 times against a pass rush that sacked him five times. Chicago ran the ball 12 times. This despite the score never being wider than a touchdown the entire night.
He had two baffling play calls in 3rd and 1 situations that led to punts. One of them being a hand-off up the middle to Cordarrelle Patterson. A wide receiver. His clock management was bad. His crowning moment though came when the Bears were forced into a 4th and 10 in the second half. They looked at a 51-yard field goal attempt for Eddy Pineiro that would’ve narrowed the gap to 7-6.
Nagy decided to not risk it.
So he decided to punt, right? NOPE. He went for it on offense instead with a QB who was clearly struggling. Needless to say, they were stopped short of the sticks. Last but certainly not least was the penalties. The offense was plagued by them. At one point, the Bears got three-in-a-row that forced them into a ridiculous 1st and 40 situation. The lack of preparation and execution from the entire unit (save for Allen Robinson who was excellent) was not encouraging. That falls at the feet of Nagy.
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Matt Nagy continues to outsmart himself
The frustrating thing is Nagy’s a good play caller. Often a really good one. The problem is sometimes he tries to show everybody how smart he is. This leads to way too many “cute” trickeration calls that too often fall flat. Instead of running the ball and getting his quarterback in rhythm with quick, high percentage passes the Bears kept trying an array of horizontal plays against a defense that was clearly on top of everything.
What’s most baffling is how much work the Bears did to go up and get David Montgomery in the draft. He looked great in the preseason and had some standout plays in the game. Yet he only receives seven touches? It feels like Nagy’s so busy trying to play the chess match that he forgets football is often a game decided by getting the football to the best players. Patterson? Mike Davis? Adam Shaheen? Those guys don’t move the bottom line.
Unless Nagy comes back to earth and realize he’s wasting one of the best defenses maybe in Bears history, the luster on him is going to wear off really fast.
