Chicago Bears: How to fix the offensive struggles

Stop Being Too Cute

Matt Nagy seems to have learned his lesson between Week 1 and Week 2. However, he still has some changes to make before Week 3. In Week 1, it looked like Nagy was treating the game like a preseason game. He kept throwing out unique packages instead of letting his player’s play.

In the opening game against the Packers, the Bears used 32 different personnel groupings. That’s not a problem for an offense that is succeeding. However, when you see that your offense is struggling, you need to make in-game coaching changes. This goes back to establishing the run and the play-action pass.

When you look at the success rate of teams that use play-action, it shocks me that teams do not use it more often. Play action is very different than a run-pass-option (RPO). Play-action is a designed pass play that involves a fake handoff to the running back in the backfield.

If the run game has been established at all, the defensive front usually bites on the fake and this limits the pressure on the quarterback. Trubisky is not thinking about do I hand off, keep it and run or keep it and pass like during an RPO. Instead, he is just playing football and able to make his progressions and reads more easily.

As you can see, Trubisky and the Bears have not done well with play-action to this point. This is not because play-action does not work. No. This is because the Bears are not able to sell the run well enough. Even when running the ball 29 times, the team was not selling the run well enough to use play-action effectively. This is due to the way the run plays are called in tune with the pass plays being called. Nagy needs to find his perfect balance, not necessarily a 50/50 split.

Play-action also helps the receivers. It seems that the Bears’ wide receivers, outside of Allen Robinson, have struggled with separation. Play-action should not only help Trubisky, but it should help Taylor Gabriel and Anthony Miller too. This should open up the passing game for the Bears. I would like to see fewer bubble screens and more play-action with quick slants across the middle.

Roll-outs need to happen too. The first roll-out pass that went deep to Cohen was on the money. The defender made a nice play, but Cohen should have caught that ball. One could argue that if the pass was thrown just a little further, Cohen might have caught it and went for six. Well, the pass was dropped, but why abandon the type of play call?