Chicago Bears: 3 Challenges Matt Nagy must overcome to keep his job beyond 2020

Matt Nagy must hand off the Chicago Bears play-calling to Bill Lazor

We have been talking about this for weeks now. Matt Nagy actually called a good game versus the New Orleans Saints. The rest of the season has been suspect at best. He might have some great play designs, but his situational play-calling is not something any coach should strive for. How often have we seen a third-and-short or a fourth-and-short only to see Cordarelle Patterson get the ball out of the backfield on a run to the short side of the field? Predictable.

What happened to the play-action passes that came in Weeks 1 and 2? They have dwindled down drastically after Nick Foles was named the starter even though the team was finding success with these plays. Why abandon something that was working? Why abandon something that was helping your offensive line? A unit that went from being in the top half of the league to now in the bottom half — a trend that started before the recent injuries and COVID-19 issues.

This last game versus the Titans proved that the play-calling and game plan by the Chicago Bears head coach is not in line with how the offense should be attacking opponents. This past Sunday, the Bears were down to only two initial starters on the offensive line. Even backups weren’t available and the team had to call upon practice squad help. Instead of changing the gameplan, Matt Nagy called plays as if he had his starting offensive line available.

Remember, that offensive line was trending in the wrong direction to begin with, but this game should have been chalked full of quick passes. To start the game, the first series was actually drawn up well, but the offense was unable to take advantage of the situation after a great pass to Jimmy Graham. I expected to see more quick slants, screens and crossing patterns. I expected to see runs between the tackles. Unfortunately, I saw too little of this as Nagy continued to switch his personnel in and out constantly. A trait I am tired of seeing as it leads to less continuity.

Clearly, Nagy must give up play-calling now and this might need to happen before the Vikings game on Monday night. If it does not happen immediately, this could ruin his chances at the next thing that must happen for him to retain his job as the Chicago Bears head coach.