Bears: 2019’s mid-season collapse has left Chicago with question marks

The Chicago Bears are headed into Minnesota to play their final game of the 2019 season next Sunday. After a mid-season collapse, finishing 8-8 is positive.

The Chicago Bears started off the season 3-1 after four games. The first quarter of the season was a positive one. Even though the offense wasn’t solid, the defense kept them in games. Unlike last year, the defense wasn’t getting the takeaways they were expected to get. Going into 2019, people were expecting an improved defense from 2018. That didn’t happen.

I’m not one to call out players and bury them. I will say this, Khalil Mack in 2019 was a disappointment. Mack is the highest-paid player in dead cap at $57,200,000. The way he was shut down by almost every team this year was a big blow to this defense.

There were a lot of injuries on the defensive side of the ball throughout the season. There is no one player to blame for the defensive collapse. They had almost the same team as 2018. It has to fall on the shoulders of Chuck Pagano. Pagano was the Bears’ new defensive coordinator who was supposed to take over from Vic Fangio. Even though Fangio hasn’t found much success in Denver as a first-year head coach, his team has more hope with Drew Lock going into 2020.

On the offensive side of the ball, I cannot pinpoint one specific player. First off, the master of deflecting blame on someone else, Matt Nagy needs to be held accountable. I haven’t seen worse play-calling by any team. Nagy only play-called six games under Andy Reid before getting the job in Chicago. He wasn’t ready to be the lone play-caller. He doesn’t have Coach Reid to walk him through everything. This isn’t to say Nagy isn’t a smart guy, it just means he isn’t the guy to call plays.

Nagy has a lot of other things going on. He doesn’t get to work with Mitchell Trubisky and the offense all week. A coach has more responsibilities than that. Nagy has to meet with Ryan Pace and other people involved with the front office.

Former Bears’ coach Dave Wannstedt explained on NBCS Chicago his feelings about Nagy. He made sure to point out how smart he feels Nagy is. He went on to say when he was the head coach, he called plays for a season and a half. Wannstedt stopped calling plays because it became too much. The offensive coordinator would spend more with the offense.

Nagy should still be involved for sure, he just shouldn’t be the lone play-caller, if that makes sense. He has a lot on his plate. This is just something he shouldn’t be doing. In the off-season, the Bears need to find a new offensive coordinator that Nagy will let call plays. I like Larry Fedora but Nagy wouldn’t go for that. He would be more interested in someone who has worked with Coach Reid.

Besides play-calling, the offenses biggest problem is the offensive line. Yes, the line has been banged up all season. There isn’t enough depth as we’ve seen. Trubisky has been hurried, hit, and sacked too many times. It has affected the offensive play and thrown the blame on Trubisky. Trubisky isn’t the only person to blame. There are a lot more players to blame than him.

The perfect player on offense this year was Allen Robinson. He was the team’s most valuable player. Besides Robinson, everyone on the offense had their issues. The team dropped too many passes and Trubisky missed a lot of throws he should have made. The tight end position was a mess. Like stated earlier, the offensive line was banged up. This offense was a complete mess.

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Trubisky’s stat line was very similar to last year’s. Trubisky had too many games where he failed to get in the end zone. A lot of that was due to the team not executing in big situations. This isn’t an excuse, it’s a fact, the referees took a few touchdowns away from Trubisky with bad calls. It started Week 1 against Green Bay. It would happen in many games from there.

If he didn’t throw six touchdowns in one game last season, he’d be around where he is right now. I’m still not giving up on Trubisky. People that have been overreacting. There are a lot of factors going into his struggles this season. What the team needs to do is find a big strong tight end. They need to add another wide receiver who Trubisky can go to for big plays. Someone like Randall Cobb. They need to fix up their offensive line. There are a ton of issues and as of right now, I wouldn’t consider Trubisky one of them.

I’m not 100% certain if I would bring in quarterback competition just yet. There aren’t many names that will be out there that I feel would be more successful on this team. For example, Nick Foles has failed everywhere but Philadelphia. Case Keenum has failed everywhere but Minnesota. Ryan Tannehill will be staying as the Titans’ starting quarterback come September.

The only real option would be Marcus Mariota. He hasn’t had much success over the years either. Mariota is a nice guy but he isn’t a winner. He has a 29-32 record as a starter and we know who he is. He has one winning season and right as a different quarterback took over his team, they turned the season around. Mariota was 2-4 as a starter this season, Tannehill is 6-3 as a starter. That is a big difference.

Trubisky has had more success than everyone named but Foles. Foles is a Super Bowl champion. Besides 2017 and 2018, he hasn’t done much. He wasn’t successful when he was the Rams’ quarterback, he hasn’t been successful as the Jaguars’ quarterback. I don’t see him coming in and turning it around in Chicago.

There are a lot of issues facing this team going into the off-season. One thing is certain, Coach Nagy and Ryan Pace will be on the hot seat. It’s just a matter of time before they either change the culture or get fired.