Chicago Bears send mix messages after Thursday night
By James Torres
The Chicago Bears kicked off the 100th season of the NFL with lopsided play calling, poor decision making, and a frustrating message for fans.
The Chicago Bears are clearly putting their faith in Mitchell Trubisky after a 10-3 loss at the hands of the Packers. Matt Nagy made it loud and clear when his offensive unit executed 45 pass plays to only 15 runs. The Bears looked desperate against a revamped Green Bay defense led by Mike Pettine leading to several questions.
The first thing that comes to mind is, “Where was David Montgomery?” He ran the ball six times for 18 yards showing off his extraordinary footwork and head jukes. Six carries are hardly enough volume to get any momentum, yet he led all backs in carries. He wasn’t the starter, that was Tarik Cohen who fumbled the opening sweep on Chicago’s first possession.
This offseason, the Bears front office revamped the entire running back room. First, they shipped former Pro Bowler Jordan Howard off to Philadelphia for peanuts. Then they signed former Seahawk Mike Davis. The most dramatic move was trading the little draft capital they had to select Montgomery in an earlier position of the third round.
If such drastic moves were needed for the running game, why didn’t Nagy call more running plays? Last week Nagy went out of his way to laud over his rookie tailback days before the game.
Nagy told Bryan Perez of NBC Sports,
"“His strength is he’s very humble and he has zero expectations,” Nagy said of Montgomery via Yahoo Sports. “We didn’t have a first-round pick, we didn’t have a second-round pick … and when he was sitting there, to us, he was a first-round talent.”"
When reexamining the tape, the Packers defense neutralized the Bears receiving threats by lining up in Dime defense a vast majority of the defensive snaps. Nagy didn’t take advantage of one linebacker in the middle of the field. Pass after pass after pass throughout a 4-point game that lacked any sort of offensive momentum. Nagy not only failed to utilize his new toys but also failed to put Trubisky in position to execute within the game.
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Trubisky was inconsistent throughout the night. He played mediocre at best and that is a stretch. Allen Robinson managed to find holes throughout a hawkish Green Bay secondary going for over 100-yards. But this scenario is not new for the second-year head coach, he has demonstrated tunnel-vision before.
His play-calling cost the Chiefs a huge lead in the playoffs two years ago. Last season, his game plan allowed Philadelphia to steal a playoff game at home. Thursday night was more of the same, a coach who cannot get out of his own way. Players have to play but coaches have to demonstrate the ability to adapt to a game.
Related Story. Someone has some explaining to do. light
Maybe its time for Nagy to focus on leading the team rather than controlling it. He calls the plays while his coordinator sits in the booth. It may be time for the switch. His predecessor Andy Reid did it and it earned Nagy his current post.