Back in January, George McCaskey made the unpopular decision to keep Matt Nagy as the head coach of the Chicago Bears. He felt the man’s character and leadership were worth giving more time. The problem is Nagy continues to insist that he has direct control of one entire side of the football on offense. This despite mounting evidence that he is woefully underequipped to handle such a job.
While nobody can deny the man can hold sway in a locker room, his ongoing inability to manufacture points has driven Bears fans to a near psychosis. Especially after watching the offense look much better when Bill Lazor took over play calling last season. According to a source, it sounds like people inside Halas Hall are losing patience as well. There is a lot of frustration over how the offense has looked over the past three weeks. The ugly first half in Cleveland where Justin Fields was sacked four times? Then another five in the second?
That didn’t help his case.
What enraged people the most was the game plan. Armed with an average offensive line and facing a great pass rush, Nagy elected to run several standard drop-back passes. The results were almost inevitable. Cleveland whipped the Bears blocking and put Fields on the ground. No moving pockets. Few run-pass options. No screens. Limited play action. It was an absolute farce of a plan that didn’t give the rookie any sort of chance to function.
It was the exact sort of situation Nagy couldn’t afford. The heat on him was intense even before the game. To get so thoroughly dominated like that didn’t do him any favors. Especially after the offense scored just 14 and 13 points respectively in the first two weeks. All while strong defensive efforts continue to get wasted.
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Myles Garrett has 2.5 sacks in the first half alone. #Browns
📺: #CHIvsCLE on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/G0GHeQ4h8A— NFL (@NFL) September 26, 2021
Matt Nagy isn’t good enough and that is what matters here
He was hired to fix the Bears’ problems on offense. He hasn’t done that. If anything he’s magnified them. It’s been over three years and there are no signs of it getting any better. People were fine with blaming Mitch Trubisky at the time because Nagy was the newer of the two options. It couldn’t be the coach and his system that were the problem. So they let Trubisky walk and got Fields in the draft. Now with a new quarterback? Nothing has changed. The offense looks exactly the same.
At this rate, Fields is going to develop a lot of bad habits. Bad habits lead to poor play. As confident as the young man is, the NFL can break you given enough time. Matt Nagy is supposed to be somebody who knows how to make things easier for a young quarterback. He did anything but that in this game. If this trend continues with the rookie taking way too many hits? It is going to cost a lot of people their jobs.
Nagy included.
The good news is not every opponent on the schedule is as talented as the Browns. Next week they’ll play the Detroit Lions. An opponent that should be a little more lenient towards helping Fields get comfortable. If that doesn’t happen? Then the discussions will begin about whether the head coach might get fired before the season even ends.
