Chicago Bears 2017 Coaching Review: Looking at the Top Four Coaches
At the end of the 2015 season, former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase was hired by the Miami Dolphins as their head coach. Now they are in the playoffs. Some people think that the Bears made a mistake in letting Gase go and that he should have been the head coach. They think that Fox should have been sacrificed to keep Gase. Hindsight is 20/20.
Loggains is young and still has a lot to learn. That really showed this season. Yes, the Bears offense had several injuries to deal with, especially at quarterback but overall, the offense was clunky. The most recognizable issue was the lack of a running game. Loggains placed the responsibility of winning games on his quarterbacks and didn’t run the ball as often as he should have. And when the Bears ran the ball often, which wasn’t much, they almost always won.
The rankings for Loggains offense are interesting and on their face, show us that the offense might not have been as bad as most people thought. At least if you go by the numbers. But the key number, points, in which the Bears ranked 28th averaging 17.4 per game, is the scary one. The Bears could almost never score enough points to win.
When it came to total yards per game, the Bears were 15th averaging 356.5. Some of this is grown out of Matt Barkley’s huge passing performances as the year ended. Speaking of passing yards, Chicago ranked 14th in the NFL averaging 248.1 yards per game. It’s too bad their middle of the pack passing game couldn’t have put more points on the board.
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Finally, the rushing game earned 108.4 yards per game which was 17th in the league. As mentioned, Loggains did not seem to be able to figure out that the running game could help them win games. Jordan Howard was a huge asset to the offense and he could have gained even more yards had he been used more often.
Much like the defense, execution was a problem on offense. They could not score enough points to win due to the poor execution. We also wonder if it was poor quarterback play that could have been Loggains problem or was Loggains the quarterbacks’ problem? Maybe it was a little bit of both.
Another interesting theory that has come up is that Loggains “handcuffed” his quarterbacks, especially Brian Hoyer and that’s why they weren’t as productive as they might have been. He may have not been sure what he had in Hoyer and Barkley and thus limited them to what they could do in the offense. That seems like a strong possibility, especially when Hoyer played.
Loggains must step it up next season to find success and help this team win. He must rely on the run more and may have to develop a new quarterback. With hopes that the offense will have good health, Loggains will try to prove he’s worthy of being an NFL offensive coordinator. If he can’t he will not only drag himself down but he will take the Bears down. And fans, as well as management, will not be able to tolerate another losing season.