Chicago Bears: How Matt Nagy turned the 2020 season into a nightmare
Nagy’s offense has been offensive with the Chicago Bears
Nagy became the head coach of the Chicago Bears on the notion that he was an offensive guru. He is an Andy Reid disciple and helped improve his offense. In 2017, Reid handed over all playcalling duties to Nagy when the Kansas City Chiefs struggled.
The Chiefs started out 5-0 before losing six of their next seven games. Nagy took over and the Chiefs won their last four games and won the AFC West. That put his name out there and the Bears were among a number of teams that pursued him.
Nagy came to Chicago and many felt the franchise would finally have a high-powered offense to go with its tough defense.
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That hasn’t happened, however. His offense has struggled to move the ball and score points. Even in the successful 2018 season, the offense wasn’t one to write home about. Yes, the offense ranked ninth in points, but that was boosted by the defense. That defense recorded an amazing six touchdowns on turnovers. Those points count for the offense.
In terms of yards, the offense ranked 21st. Additionally, the offense ranked 22nd in turnovers. The Bears’ offense in 2018 really depended on the elite defense to win games.
Things only went downhill after that. In 2019, the offense ranked 29th in both points and yards. The passing attack ranked 25th in yards and touchdowns. Meanwhile, the running game ranked 27th in yards and 28th in touchdowns.
This season, the offense has just about ground to a halt. It ranks 28th in points and 30th in yards. Also, it ranks 23rd in turnovers and 27th in interceptions. The running game ranks 31st in yards and 32 in touchdowns. In fact, the offense scored three touchdowns in their last game against the Detroit Lions. That was more than the two they had all season.
Speaking of the running game, Nagy hasn’t involved it enough. Last season, he spoke about the running game’s failures. The Bears ran the ball 40.5 percent of the time, which was not nearly enough. Nagy said he understood that the running game needed to be more involved.
This season, however, he didn’t do it. The Bears have run the ball just 35.4 percent of the time. Funny, when a coach says he understands that an aspect of the offense needs to be more involved, one usually thinks that the coach increases, not decreases, that aspect.
Despite seeing how badly his offense struggled, Nagy refused to get help. He forgot what happened with Reid in Kansas City by refusing to give up playcalling duties. Reid understood that perhaps letting someone else take over could improve things. Nagy refused to see that until it was too late.
Matt Nagy hasn’t been able to develop the offense the way many expected. Instead of getting better, his offense has gotten worse. That doesn’t bode well for the team retaining him.