The sudden downturn of the Chicago Bears offense this season has raised serious questions. Namely its inability to run the ball or have any sort of identity. They ran it just seven times against New Orleans last Sunday, a franchise record low. Matt Nagy has insisted several times that he understands the team has to run the ball more. Yet he continues to fail in this venture. This is why the buzz has increased of late that it might be in his and the team’s best interests if he handed play calling duties to someone else.
Sometimes a head coach can handle both jobs of running a game and calling plays. Other times they can’t. Relieving Nagy of his duties as a play caller would allow him to focus on managing the game and motivating the players. Two things he’s really good at. The problem would be who does he hand the play sheet over to? The most obvious choice is offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich but he’s not a great option since he’s never done something like that in his coaching career.
Offensive consultant Brad Childress has but his ties to the system can best be called limited since he was away from the team for a long period in the several months dabbling in the AAF. That would just leave quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone who also has never called played. With these options on the table, it’s little surprise Nagy stepped in front of the media on Wednesday and announced he will continue to call plays himself.
Matt Nagy will have to dig himself out of this mess
The frustrating part about all of this is that Nagy has actually had a number of instances where he called excellent games offensively. He got guys open, ran the ball consistently and just had defenses on their heels. For whatever reason, it seems like he’s lost something. Like he doesn’t quite trust himself. He’s leaning too heavily on certain formations and play designs too often and opponents are finding it easier and easier to counter what he’s trying to do.
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The lack of balance is playing a huge part. Not to mention the lack of discipline from the players themselves. The best thing for him to do moving forward is to put his foot down and scrap whatever craft schemes they were trying to cook up this summer. Get back to what was working in 2018. It may not have always been pretty, but it got the job done. This coming Sunday against a pretty good defense in the Los Angeles Chargers will reveal a lot about what’s to come.
