Chicago Bears: 5 Best decisions of the 2020 offseason
The Chicago Bears revamp its coaching staff
Many will look at the Chicago Bears and Matt Nagy revamping of its coaching staff as a scapegoat to an 8-8 season. The thing is, something had to change. I was a Harry Heistand proponent, but it seems like he and Nagy were not on the same page on how each wanted the offensive line scheme to be run. Letting Heistand walk and bringing in Juan Castillo could be a huge upgrade only in the fact that both Castillo and Nagy will look to simplify and run the zone-blocking scheme.
Adding John DeFilippo is a huge upgrade too in my opinion. DeFilippo has been a head coaching candidate for the last few years and has proven to be one of the best quarterbacks coaches in the NFL. Bringing him in and pairing him with both Mitchell Trubisky and again with Nick Foles was a strong decision. Nagy has no excuse here with help from DeFilippo regarding his quarterbacks.
The last addition that stands out was swapping Mark Helfrich for Bill Lazor. Lazor also has connections with Foles. In fact, Foles had a career year while working with Lazor while playing for the Eagles. This was Foles’ first stint with the Eagles and Lazor was the quarterbacks coach. Does this guarantee the starting spot for Foles? Personally, I do not believe so, but it definitely helps. The one reason I think Lazor is an upgrade over Helfrich is because of his NFL experience.
Helfrich came straight out of the collegiate level and into the NFL as an offensive coordinator. He did not have any prior coaching experience in the NFL before Nagy brought him in. He was a successful head coach for the Oregon Ducks, but not “that” successful. Making a swap for Lazor was a solid decision even if not the “sexy” decision.
Most overhyped players of the 2020 season. light. Trending
Final Thoughts:
All five of these moves made the team better for 2020 — at least on paper. Now we will need to see if the moves translate to the field and in the Chicago Bears record for 2020. I have the team winning 10 games with a ceiling of 13 games and a floor of 7. The NFL is full of parity and most games are very close. These moves will hopefully put the Bears on the winning side of those very close games.