CHICAGO — No running game, a revolving door offensive line, crucial quarterback interceptions, and Matt Nagy refusing to adjust. You can check the date, this is not an article from 2019.
So, what should we label that Monday Night Football beatdown?
Let’s call it Matt Nagy’s worst game as the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Seven weeks in, the game plan is as predictable as ever and there is still no willingness to adapt in-game.
That is the reason the Bears will make the playoffs, but that’s it.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
So let’s take a deep dive into why yesterday’s loss is a precursor for what is to come.
Where is the Running Game and Why is it Struggling?
The first play from scrimmage was promising. David Montgomery picked up three yards on a pitch from Nick Foles, who was under center. This is a look that Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers perfected and used successfully in their week 6 win over the Rams.
After a successful first-down run by Bears standards, that play wasn’t used again until late in the third quarter on a critical fourth down and it was designed for the wrong player. We all saw how that went.
The rest of the Bears running game consisted of running right up the middle into Aaron Donald and Micah Kiser, the exact opposite approach that the most talented running offense in the league used to get a win in week 6.
In total, David Montgomery had one rush for over 10-yards and it came on a play where he ran east-west. Out of his 14 carries, all 14 were designed to run up the middle using the left or right guards. He finished with just 48-yards rushing and 21-yards passing.
According to Pro-Football-Reference, the Bears running game is now the worst in the league, statistically. Over the last four games, the Bears now average an abysmal 2.43 yards per carry.
The worst part about not being able to establish a run game early in drives, or at all, is that it will reflect in your third-down conversions. The Bears converted 4/14 Monday Night.
Coming into the game, believing you were going to run up the middle with two back-up, struggling offensive lineman in Rashaad Cowherd and Germain Ifedi against the Rams is why questions continue to swirl around Nagy and his play calling.
Where was the horizontal offense?
A game plan to beat the Rams’ strong defensive front involves screens and an effective running game. According to ESPN’s Statistics, the Bears ran no designed screen passes. With a secondary as strong as the Rams, how does this happen?
Foles checked it down several times, but there were no designed screens. That proves that Nagy doesn’t believe in his offensive line because he doesn’t think they are fast enough to get outside and block downfield. He’s right, which is an even bigger problem than the one I just presented.
All of this being Nagy does have solid blocking tight ends in Cole Kmet and Jimmy Graham. Why is he not using them more?
All of this being said, the Bears will make the playoffs, but that’s it.
Despite Matt Nagy refusing to change his ways offensively and try anything new, the Bears have a top-five defense in the NFL. They even outscored the offense last night with and Eddie Jackson fumble recovery touchdown.
To add to that notion, they have five winnable games remaining in their schedule and the NFC is clearly a weaker conference than the AFC.
The fact is, the Bears are playing with half of a football team right now and will continue to be half of a football team with their current offensive attack that has not changed in 2.5 years. But with an expanded playoff format in which seven teams from each conference make it in, the Bears should be one of those teams.
They have two games against the one-win Vikings, one game against the Jaguars, Lions and Texans. Of those five, the Bears should win them all and they should finish the year with 10 wins.
As far as advancing in the playoffs and the pipe dream of winning a Super Bowl, it’s not going to happen as long as you watch the Packers, Buccaneers, Chiefs, Steelers, Ravens, and Seahawks run flawless offensive football.
It’s an offensive league, and the Bears are who we thought they were.
