5 mistakes of his predecessors Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus must avoid

Matt Eberflus is replacing Matt Nagy and there are three seasons worth of Nagy mistakes Eberflus can learn from.

Do not give word salad responses

Nagy was respectful to the media. However, he would often give long dissertations when a shorter response would have been better suited to the question being asked. It was like listening to a lecture on War and Peace. Half the time he never really gave an answer.

Eberflus would do himself a favor by getting to the point and giving a straightforward answer. At the same time, he should not be like Fox and not give much of a response at all.

Do not go looking for the “whys”

Nagy once said he has to look for the “why” when it came to the team’s losing streak. The “why” was pretty easy: the Chicago Bears could never score enough points. Nagy never got into how the team would improve.

If the team struggles, Bears fans do not want to know “why.” They want to know how it will be fixed.

Avoid being stubborn with your scheme

Nagy believed so much in his offensive scheme that it was his undoing. Mitchell Trubisky’s strengths were not meant to run what Nagy wanted to do on offense. Nick Foles once said the talent on the offensive line was not good enough to block the plays Nagy liked to call. Nagy refused to change his game plan for Fields making his first start which lead to Fields getting sacked nine times.

Instead of changing his scheme to meet his players’ strengths or the talent he had, Nagy kept forcing his scheme down their throats. It led to an offense that struggled to score. It was part of the reason Trubisky did not develop, and it was the main reason it became clear Nagy was not the coach to develop Justin Fields.

It seemed like Nagy felt like his scheme would win games and not his game plan. He never focused on winning each individual game and altering his scheme to win that game.

Nagy was also stubborn in wanting Andy Dalton to be this season’s starting quarterback. He never gave Fields a chance to win the job.

Eberflus needs to make sure he avoids being stubborn to a fault like Nagy. He should be game planning to his team’s strengths. He should be asking his players to do things they are capable of doing. You know- all the things a good head coach should do.