What former players say as Bill Lazor takes over the Chicago Bears play-calling
Matt Nagy made a tough decision this week — one that took every ounce of his strength. He handed over the Chicago Bears play calling to Bill Lazor. We will see if that makes any difference as most of us here at Bear Goggles On have been calling for this move for a few weeks now.
The Chicago Bears have been on a downward spiral as they have lost three straight games. Bill Lazor and the Chicago Bears must do anything and everything to win this week versus the Minnesota Vikings. Every game matters, but divisional games are even more important.
Chicago Bears, senior writer Larry Mayer interviewed a couple of Lazor’s former players to get an insight into the Bears offensive coordinator. The two players he interviewed were Ryan Tannehill and Jarvis Landry. Both players were on the Dolphins 2014 and 2015 roster when Lazor was the offensive coordinator for Miami.
Landry spoke about how Lazor was great at getting the ball into the playmaker’s hands. He also stated how Lazor likes to use misdirection to help get players in open spaces. This could be great for players like Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller and Darnell Mooney.
Landry was a rookie in 2014 and finished with 84 catches, 758 yards and five touchdowns. Mike Wallace was also on this team and finished with 862 yards and 10 touchdowns. Can Mooney step into that role? In 2015, Landry increased his production with 110 catches, 1,157 yards and four touchdowns. Landry also mentioned how Lazor’s system is very quarterback-friendly.
How has Lazor’s system helped his quarterbacks?
This was clear as Lazor’s system helped Ryan Tannehill reach the most efficient season of his career. In fact, the only two seasons Tannehill threw for over 4,000 yards both came in 2014 and 2015 in Lazor’s system. This is important to note as he also helped Andy Dalton reach over 4,200 yards as the quarterbacks coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Tannehill spoke about how detail-oriented Lazor was while in Miami. He remarked about involved he was with footwork, timing and precision. When it comes to the Chicago Bears offense, you would hope that unleashing Lazor will bring more timing and precision. Too many times we have seen receivers out of position or the quarterback mistiming his throw.
I am not ready to think that the switch to Lazor will make a drastic difference versus the Vikings on Monday night, but with the team going on a bye the week after, we should see a more drastic difference versus the Packers on November 29th. The offense cannot be any worse than it has been the last five weeks, right?