When people think about the Chicago Bears offense, they always think about running the football. It’s been part of their identity since the franchise’s inception 100 years ago. Red Grange. Bronco Nagurski. Rick Casares. Gale Sayers. Walter Payton. Neal Anderson. Matt Forte. The franchise has a long and illustrious history when it comes to running the football well. If George Halas were alive to see the most recent game at Soldier Field against the New Orleans Saints, he might’ve burned the locker room down.
Head coach Matt Nagy was hired in 2018 to upgrade the Bears offense to modern standards. What nobody knew at the time was he viewed this in a simple light: pass as much as possible. Twice already this season Mitch Trubisky has thrown the ball at least 45 times in a game. The first was the opener against Green Bay and now again in a humiliating 36-25 loss to the New Orleans Saints. A game in which Nagy set a franchise record that nobody thought was possible by running the ball a grand total of seven times.
Seven.
It’s worth keeping in mind here that Trubisky was coming in a bit rusty with a shoulder injury. To ask him to throw the ball over 50 times against a talented and well-coached defense is utterly baffling. Never mind the fact that Nagy continues to keep the ball out of the hands of David Montgomery, the young running back the Bears gave up two draft picks to get back in April.
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Chicago Bears offense has no punch and no identity
It seems Nagy is lost right now. He can’t figure out what’s wrong with the offense. Well, aside from the obvious quarterback issues, they seem to have lost their identity. Last year’s unit wasn’t perfect, but they at least committed to a steady ground attack with Jordan Howard. It seems like since Howard left, the Bears suddenly decided running the ball wasn’t required anymore. Opponents have begun to realize this and have adjusted accordingly.
They know if they stop the run a few times early, Nagy will abandon it and that’s been the case almost every week. The offense is passive and doesn’t have any form of physicality to it. They’re getting pushed around constantly. That’s something Bears fans aren’t used to seeing. At 3-3, Nagy knows he can’t lean on optimism anymore. No amount of “positive thoughts” are going to rescue him from this disaster.
He keeps saying the running game isn’t good enough. How can it be if he refuses to run the ball with any sort of consistency? For all the good things he’s done in the past year, this is not a part of the record books he would’ve wanted to be in when he took over as head coach of the Bears.
