Chicago Bears: 8 Observations after Week 7 loss to the Rams

A review of the Week 7 loss and eight observations of the Chicago Bears

1. Matt Nagy got outcoached badly by Coach McVay

This game reminded me of the 2018 Bears vs Patriots game in Soldier Field. Bears were 3-1 going into this game. As I recall, both Nagy and the Bears DC, Vic Fangio, made odd and unnecessarily risky decisions. At the time I felt they were both intimidated by facing Belichick and were trying to prove a point that they could make bold unorthodox decisions just like Belichick does and have them succeed. Most of these off the wall calls backfired on the Chicago Bears coaches.

This Rams game was possibly a redux of that game. Nagy made a number of odd and clearly unwise choices that blew up in his face. These included failed play calls such as the Cordarelle Patterson run on 4th and 1. The worst of the lot was the play call on the end zone interception. It was the worst because it had three strategically negative elements to it.

First, Nagy had Nick Foles roll to his left which is the opposite side of his throwing arm. This alone decreased the odds of it being an accurate pass. Second, Nagy took his best red-zone target, Jimmy Graham, off the field and out of the play so he was not even there as a decoy. The third negative element was that Nagy decided that the pass target, Darnell Mooney’s speed was more important to success than Graham or Kmet being seven to eight inches taller than Mooney.

The height differential was a big factor because the pass was made in the tight confines of the endzone. Nagy has, rightfully, been criticized for making very dodgy decisions to prove he is the smartest man in the room. It is possible this all got really rolling in the game against the Patriots in 2018.