Chicago Bears: 3 reasons to commit to the run
As the Chicago Bears look for improvement at the quarterback position, it may begin with a commitment to the run game.
The Chicago Bears were 1-4 this past season in games when starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky attempted over 40 passes in games. The losses came twice against the Green Bay Packers and a loss each against the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams.
Another takeaway from the Bears’ loss against the Saints during Week 7 last season is that the Bears only had 7 rushing attempts.
Chicago Bears
Three years into the league, it is clear that Trubisky was the wrong selection for the Bears with the second overall selection in the 2017 NFL Draft. Both Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Houston Texans’ starting quarterback Patrick DeShaun Watson have proven that they are more capable than Trubisky when it comes to strictly being a passer.
To further complicate matters for Trubisky, his completion percentage of 63.2 percent last season ranked 18th among quarterbacks.
It is clear that the Bears have a problem with the quarterback position. How are the Bears going to fix that problem if Trubisky truly is going to be the starting quarterback for the Bears 2020?
The answer will be Bears’ head coach Matt Nagy putting his ego aside and scrapping his current offense. Instead of trying to force a pass-first offense on a quarterback that is not a fit for such a type of offense, Nagy needs to highlight’s Trubisky’s strengths by featuring an offense that is dedicated to the run.
Trubisky may never be the precision passer that Nagy had with Alex Smith on the Chiefs, but he does possess elite talent when it comes to making plays with his feet and throwing on rollout passes.
Those successes were few and far between for Trubisky in 2019 as Nagy tried to force his young quarterback to throw from the pocket. Trubisky does not have football intelligence to throw from the pocket as Nagy admitted last week that the former North Carolina Tar Heel needs to learn how to read defensive coverages.
If Nagy is going to make life easier for Trubisky, the Bears’ head coach is going to need to commit to the running game.
A commitment to the running game will slow the game down for Trubisky. Slow the game down in the sense that opposing defenses will be forced to commit to stopping the Bears’ rushing game as opposed to playing back and forcing Trubisky to beat them.
This will also Trubisky to use his feet more as play-action passes will create the time that the quarterback needs to read opposing defensive coverages.
The Bears have to have improved quarterback play in 2020 and one way that can be accomplished is through the running game.