Chicago Bears: Bold predictions for the Lions game

Chicago Bears will run wild

Call me crazy but I think — for a variety of reasons — Matt Nagy finally gets it. And by “it” I mean the importance of running the football. In fairness, Nagy ran the ball way more than many fans give him credit for. The way some fans talk about him, you’d think he passed the ball 80 percent of the time last year.

The reality is, while the team passed the ball more, it was much closer than people think. Last season, the team passed the ball 580 times and ran the ball 395 times. So Nagy was running the ball approximately 40 percent of the time.

The problem is with a quarterback like Trubisky, the scales needed to be tilted in the opposite direction. In order to effectively hide Trubisky’s flaws and make him a serviceable quarterback, the team has to run the ball closer to 60 percent of the time while throwing the ball much less.

I think it has finally clicked for Nagy, which is why you will see him relentlessly pound the football on Sunday. He will run the ball so much, fans will think the Bears replaced him with John Fox. As a result, the first bold prediction is that the Bears finish the game with a combined 175 yards rushing. This will include Trubisky using his legs more, along with deploying Cordarrelle Patterson as a running back more frequently.