Chicago Bears: Run game issues go beyond play calling

Matt Nagy’s inability to get establish a ground game has been an issue. However, his play calling is not the only issue for the Chicago Bears.

The Chicago Bears offense has been abysmal in recent weeks. There is no way around it. In fact, when you break down all of the issues it seems impossible to fix before the end of the season. One of the issues that fans and media alike have pointed to is Nagy’s inability to stick with the run.

The Bears had just seven rushing attempts on Sunday despite their quarterback struggling in his first game back from injury. Nagy was upfront in saying that he needed to run the ball more after the game. However, he also laid out how, when you break the game down situationally, he did get away from it.

He noted on the first run of the game,

"The very first play, and we unfortunately had one missed block,” he said. “To the second level. So you really would like to see that block. And if you get that block – and that’s not throwing anybody under the bus, that’s just as honest as I can possibly be. You spend a week and a half working on a concept, and the first play of the game, you give a little bit of juice to your guys, let’s go get this done, and the first play that happened. But, we got to go back to that and we’ve got to trust that we’ll make the next time. That’s where I’m at right now."

Here is a GIF of the first run. You can see that he is most likely talking about James Daniels here. Daniels helps in double-teaming off of the line, with Cody Whitehair, and the two get an initial push. However, Daniels is unable to get off of the block and move upfield. You can see the second level defender come in and match Tarik Cohen. If Daniels is able to get off of his block and cover that defender Cohen may squirt free. Instead, the Saints blocked a punt and took a lead.

This is an issue considering the tackles have struggled mighilty in pass protection. On top of that, Rashad Coward is very new to playing guard. The team needs to rely on Daniels and Whitehair as their leaders. They ran behind the two to start the game and only saw a small gain.

With issues in the blocking game, Nagy tried to get creative. The team tried to run an option type play and did not gain a yard. They tried to run a toss play to Anthony Miller, and Miller fumbled.

This is a play that Nagy noted picked up nine yards and got the run game going just a season before.

So, after multiple attempts at the run early in the game, they set themselves up behind the sticks. That led to a 12-10 half time score.

In the second half, the Bears got the ball back down 19-10. They ran one time and fumbled and lost the ball. The next thing they knew it was 26-10 and the game was over.

This is not to absolve Nagy. He needed to run the ball more. His creativity may need to be more than calling up old plays that have already been on tape.

Still, James Daniels, Tarik Cohen, Anthony Miller, and David Montgomery all let the run game down and helped dig a hole. This is the core of their run game. When you cannot rely on them, and they are fumbling their rushing attempts, and missing blocks it becomes a question of how do you want to lose?

The Bears have a lot of serious issues, and it goes well beyond one person.