New head coach Matt Nagy has his work cut out for him trying to fix a Chicago Bears offense that scored only 16.5 points per game.
New Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy is a well-respected offense mind who just helped oversee the Kansas City Chiefs fifth-ranked scoring offense (25.6 points per game). He’s taking over a Bears offense that finished 29th in scoring at just 16.5 points per game. Clearly, Nagy has some work to do to make this offense a more capable scoring unit.
The Chiefs have a lot more talent on their offense than the Bears. In 2017, the Chiefs became just the second team in NFL history to have a 4,000-yard passer (Alex Smith), a 1,000-yard rusher (Kareem Hunt), a 1,000-yard-wide receiver (Tyreek Hill), and a 1,000-yard tight end (Travis Kelce).
For comparison’s sake, the Bears did have a 1,000-yard rusher in Jordan Howard, but the Bears leading wide receiver (Kendall Wright) had only 614 yards, the leading tight end (Zach Miller) had 236 yards, and Mitchell Trubisky threw for just 2,193 yards in twelve starts.
The hope is that Nagy will be able to cultivate some of the talent already on the Bears offense, and that the team adds some more impact offensive players through the draft and free agency. The Bears do have some pieces to build around, particularly Howard, Tarik Cohen and Adam Shaheen, but there’s no doubt more talent needs to be infused into this offense.
The biggest piece that Nagy needs to get the most out of is Trubisky. Quite simply, the whole franchise is tied to the quarterback. If Trubisky develops into a great quarterback, Ryan Pace and Nagy will be in town for a long time; if Trubisky falters, however, there’ll be a lot of people inside of Halas Hall standing in the unemployment line.
Trubisky’s potential is tremendous and Nagy’s presence should be a huge boon to his play. Nagy is a much more creative offensive mind than John Fox or Dowell Loggains was, and having a full offseason of being “the guy” should only expedite Trubisky’s growth.
Next: NFL Power Rankings: Divisional Round edition
Nagy’s schemes should help the Bears score more points, but it’s clear that in order for this offense to evolve into a respected unit, more talent is needed. It’s up to Ryan Pace to put more talent around Trubisky and for Nagy to get the most out of the talent that is on the field on any given play. Nagy is now Pace’s “guy”, and it’s time for both of them to start fixing this offense.