Chicago Bears GM Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy must be wondering if this is the Twilight Zone. They, like everybody else, have watched the unlikely ascent of the Tennessee Titans during the course of these playoffs. First they unseat the defending champion Patriots and then stun the 14-2 Baltimore Ravens. All with a quarterback in Ryan Tannehill who wasn’t even the starter at the beginning of the year. He was a trade acquisition brought in as insurance against the erratic Marcus Mariota, a former #2 overall pick.
Sound familiar?
It should. The Bears are in almost the exact same situation. They have a great defense in place but a young former #2 overall pick who just can’t put everything together. Tennessee wasn’t willing to let that dictate their fate. They traded for Tannehill and rebuilt the offense around Derrick Henry and the running game. All decisions that have paid off. So the question becomes do Pace and Nagy have the guts to follow this blueprint?
Chicago Bears must be willing to change identities
Much of this hinges on Nagy. For two years he’s tried to establish an identity of being a pass-first team on offense. Get a lead early, then use the run and a good defense to protect it. That worked fine in 2018 when teams weren’t privy to what he was doing. That changed in 2019. Defenses have figured out how to play Trubisky and he hasn’t shown the ability to adjust. For his part, Nagy was reluctant to commit to running the ball.
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Obviously David Montgomery is not the freakish beast Henry is, but he’s shown he can be a force if he gets actual blocking. The Bears can do that by reshuffling their offensive line and going to a more smashmouth approach. Then it becomes a matter of finding that Tannehill-like insurance for Trubisky. There could be some options out there. Andy Dalton? Nick Foles? Alex Smith? All are possibilities provided the money can be worked out somehow.
None of it matters though if the team remains in denial about how serious their situation is and how little time they actually have left with this defense.
