Chicago Bears: 8 Observations after Week 7 loss to the Rams
Matt Nagy continues to take more than what he gives to the Chicago Bears
In my observations article last week one of the observations was that the most important question this season is whether Coach Nagy is going to give more than he takes. So this game Coach Nagy loaded up big time on the negative side of this ledger.
The thing about Nagy’s decision making is his decisions often appear to be so irrational. In trying to be unpredictable he often chooses a play that does not fit into the flow of what has been happening on the field. As it unfolds, it looks doomed from the start.
The other side of the spectrum is calling very predictable plays that the defense is ready to stuff. Both sides of this play-calling spectrum are to say the least, irrational. However, this is the worst of Nagy’s ridiculous ass-backward play calling patterns. He calls a cool play and it works great. However, we don’t see that play again the rest of the whole game. The latest example of this was the 38 yard completion to Cole Kmet.
In my preview of this game, I pointed out the pass defenders were much smaller than Kmet and Graham. This appeared to play a role in the 38 yard completion in traffic to Kmet. On one hand, we have Nagy ignoring plays that have worked well. On the other hand, he also keeps repeating plays that absolutely, do not work.
A prime example of this are run plays up the middle. These plays are, especially, fruitless using Cordarelle Patterson who is not good at picking out holes at the line of scrimmage. These up the gut plays were a particularly bad idea to repeat many times with Aaron Donald in the neighborhood.
I suspect the reason for Nagy repeating these failed plays is he stubbornly wants to prove that these plays will work. This would also be more evidence that he trusts his playbook more than he trusts what he sees happening in the flow of the game. I hope for everyone’s sake this theory is not what is playing out in Nagy’s head but it sure looks like it is.