Chicago Bears: Loggains’ excuses about Cohen reveal deeper problems

John Fox and Dowell Loggains’ explanation of their refusal to use Tarik Cohen tells us a lot about the state of the Chicago Bears offense.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been on somewhat of a Chicago Bears warpath today.

I mean, it’s frustrating to be Bears fan in general right now, but today spoke to what drives me insane about this team better than just about anything else could.

And thankfully, it was Dowell Loggains, and partly John Fox, who laid the source of this madness bare.

Specifically, both Fox and Loggains were asked why running back Tarik Cohen played just 13 of 60 offensive snaps in Sunday’s 23-16 loss to the Green Bay Packers a few weeks after Loggains called Cohen the Bears’ best playmaker.

Loggains’ response shed more light on the Chicago Bears’ pitiful offensive performance than I think even he realized.

On one hand, Loggains praised the impact that Cohen has on opposing defenses.

Cool, right?

Well, somehow, when asked why Cohen isn’t playing despite that, he offered this up:

With those words, Dowell Loggains just told me everything I need to know about the Chicago Bears offense.

Bears offense the “hunted”, not the hunters

You see, conventional wisdom suggests that the team with the ball dictates the game at a particular time in the game of football. You know, because they have the ball.

The defense doesn’t know the snap count. The defense can’t come after you until the ball moves. And, in theory, the defense has no idea what you’re doing to do. You can move people in the backfield all over the place, concealing your designs, and in the end, all they can do is react to what you’re doing. As the offense, you have the advantage.

Unless you’re the Chicago Bears.

See, I can absolutely understand, to an extent, the defense deciding where the football goes. Obviously, you don’t want to just wantonly run the ball into a 10-man box or throw into triple coverage if you can avoid it. But in the end, it’s always your call what you do, not theirs.

But no. In Chicago, not only does the defense determine where the ball goes, according to John Fox, but they also, as Loggains said, control the very people you put on the field.

That’s why Tarik Cohen, in spite of drawing the eyes of multiple defenders each time he’s on the field and being capable of beating man-coverage out of the slot, can’t even touch the field more than 22% of the time, let alone get the football.

In Fox’s world, if Cohen’s not getting the football, he’s not useful. That’s part of why Fox favored Benny Cunningham to Cohen: because he’s better in the two-minute drill.

Nevermind that, accounting for both two-minute drills, there are 56 other minutes in the game in which to play Cohen.

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Also, on another note, things like this may partly explain why Kendall Wright (blocking ability be damned) got left off the field for basically two straight weeks despite being the best receiver on the team.

Apparently, if you make things easier for the offense without getting the ball all the time, you can’t play.

Opposing teams, to borrow from the Bernstein and Goff Show, must be playing a “No Tarik” or “No Kendall” defense specifically designed to make sure the Bears don’t play their best players on offense.

Or, maybe, Fox and Loggains together find themselves incapable of running an effective NFL offense. How? Because they essentially just admitted that they forfeit the advantage that having the football affords.

You mean to tell me that these coaches are not creative enough to use Cohen’s status as a decoy to free up other players?

I mean, using him as a decoy even works on plays where the defense even KNOWS deep down that he’s not getting the ball because they never actually utilize that play.

Even Mitch Trubisky knows he should be on the field:

This kid might not always feel pressure in the pocket well, but apparently, he knows that your best playmakers should play.

How is it that the men trying to develop him into a good NFL quarterback aren’t providing him that?

Next: Is it now Adam Shaheen's time to shine?

Today’s words certainly didn’t change my previously expressed view that this coaching staff is toast at the end of this season. But my goodness did it answer a whole lot of questions about why this team is where it is right now.