Chicago Bears: 3 ways the offense will change in 2018

2. They’re going to push the ball downfield

Nagy has made no secret about his desire to play with pace and to take shots down the field when the situation calls for it. In fact, he helped turn Alex Smith into a 4,000-yard passer last year by doing just that.

With Trubisky and a reformed receiving corps, you’d best believe that the Chicago Bears won’t be afraid to air it out in 2018. And that mentality could be huge for unlocking the true potential of both Trubisky and the Bears.

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Coming into the last week of 2017, the Bears had thrown the lowest percentage of >20 yard passes in the league (6.9%). Meanwhile, the Alex Smith-led Kansas City Chiefs (!!) ranked 10th at 11.9%.

Aside from just aesthetically being boring, the lack of deep throws in last year’s offense negatively affected Trubisky.

Yes, his receivers were bad, but at least giving him the opportunity to push the ball down the field is both a necessary part of his development and an important cog in any offensive game plan. If you don’t challenge defenses vertically, they won’t respect your short and intermediate passing games. As such, despite usually mastering the short-to-mid-range area of the field, Trubisky struggled more than expected last year in that department.

Don’t expect that to be the case in 2018.

Nagy proved last season that he is unafraid at all times to dial the deep ball up, including on first downs. Such as this…

And though the Chicago Bears don’t have Hill, they have a versatile group of receivers with enough speed and craft to get behind cornerbacks down the field.

Opposing defenses can’t get lulled into a false sense of security with this year’s Bears offense. If they do, Nagy, Trubisky and Co. will punish them.