Matt Nagy ruined the Chicago Bears as head coach
Right after the horrid John Fox experience that was the 2017 Chicago Bears‘ season, Ryan Pace knew he needed to hire an offensive-minded head coach to help his newly-drafted and promising quarterback in Mitchell Trubisky. He had shown flashes in the 2017 season of being a great quarterback even while throwing the ball to the likes of Kendall Wright and Dontrelle Inman.
Pace had put the pieces in place. They had a veteran leader on the offensive line with Kyle Long and an up and coming center in Cody Whitehair. Their offensive line was solid, they had a great running back in Jordan Howard, and they had their quarterback of the future. A few key moves and a head coach later and they could make a few playoff runs.
Pace then brought in Matt Nagy. The Bears interviewed a variety of head coaches like Steve Wilks, Josh McDaniels, and even their defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, but Pace went with Nagy as he believed Nagy would turn the Bears’ offense into a powerhouse using the Andy Reid scheme that Nagy learned under him in Kansas City.
It all worked out in 2018. The Bears finished 12-4 and were one kick away from winning a playoff game against the former Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles. Their offense was solid and promising as Trubisky posted the third-highest quarterback rating in the NFL and earned a Pro Bowl alternate spot. It looked like the Bears were just getting started with their solid offense and out-of-this-world defense all under Nagy’s great leadership and culture.
Then 2019 happened. The Bears fell flat on their face as they lost some key pieces like Adrian Amos, Kyle Long to retirement, Trey Burton to injuries, and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio who earned a head coaching job. The Bears fell way short of expectations finishing 8-8 with their offense taking a major step back along with their defense.
Here we are now. After the great 5-1 start, 2019 has happened all over again as the Bears have dropped five straight, sitting at 5-6. The once-mighty 2018 Chicago Bears have turned into the laughingstock of the league as they have gotten dismantled for three straight weeks on both sides of the football.
So, what happened? How did Matt Nagy get us here?
The Chicago Bears offense has gotten worse every season
For starters, after three seasons of Matt Nagy getting his pick of players and getting the pick of his staff as well, the offense has actually gotten worse each season. The Bears went from being around average in yards per game in 2018 to fourth-last in 2019, then to second-last this season.
Back in 2018, the Bears were a top-ten scoring offense averaging 26.3 points per game. In 2019 that number dropped to 17.5. Although it has slightly improved this season to 19.6, they are still bottom five in scoring offense as well.
Matt Nagy has used a scapegoat for the reason of not winning each season. Back in 2018, it was the kicker and the running game (specifically Howard not fitting the scheme). So, in 2019, they replaced Parkey and held a major kicking competition with Eddy Pineiro winning the job. They additionally drafted David Montgomery to replace Howard. With this, the offense took a step back (although it was not Montgomery’s fault).
After that season, Nagy fired three main coaches and replaced them to improve the run game. He hired new veterans in Juan Castillo, Bill Lazor, and John DeFilippo. He additionally demanded he got his quarterback that could run his offense to perfection in Nick Foles. How has that worked out? Well under Foles, the Bears’ offense averaged 16.7 points per game with the lowest point being against the Minnesota Vikings when they threw for 108 yards and had 149 yards of total offense.
The offense has been horrible under Nagy and he failed to establish a good offense here in Chicago. That his where he failed big time.
Matt Nagy is hardly willing to change anything
We have already seen first-hand how unwilling Nagy is to change his playcalling duties. He has done a horrible job playcalling for the past two years and it took all the way until Week 10 of this season for him to be willing to hand those playcalling duties off.
Outside of that, Nagy is stubborn with his scheme. In a recent study I wrote, I highlighted that Nagy ran an offense that was not his normal offense in the first three weeks and it worked! It was a scheme that was a heavy outside zone with play action to take some pressure off of Trubisky. They established the run rushing for over 130 yards in every game and won all three of those games with great offensive output.
As soon as the plug was pulled on Trubisky, so was that winning scheme. Stubborn Nagy went right back to his scheme that he believes is best. What was the result with Foles? Zero games of over 100 rushing yards, low scoring games, and just a plain, bad offense.
Nagy has constantly tried to fit square shapes into circular holes. He tried to make Trubisky into a shotgun quarterback who sits in the pocket going through many progressions. He’s tried to make this offensive line work for an offense that they just aren’t suited for. He has tried time and time again to make Rashaad Coward a relevant offensive lineman. He has done horribly at that.
He didn’t like Mike Davis. Mike Davis has now stepped in for Christian McCaffrey and done great in Carolina for them. He faded Trey Burton who now is reunited with this former Eagles’ coach and is getting solid numbers in Indianapolis. This is going to be a common occurrence when players leave and do well elsewhere.
Matt Nagy failed Mitch Trubisky
Finally, the motherload: Matt Nagy was brought in to develop Trubisky. He was brought in to help move along this project quarterback and make him the franchise quarterback he was drafted to be. Trubisky had shown flashes in 2017 under that horrid offense. Nagy just had to help him take the next step.
The knocks on Trubisky coming into the NFL were his lack of experience, shaky footwork, ability to recognize blitzes and coverages, and deep-ball accuracy. He was a project that needed work on this and he had just been working and grooming a fellow young quarterback who was also a project (Patrick Mahomes).
Well, we are now in Year 3 with Nagy and Trubisky. His footwork? Still shaky. His ability to recognize blitzes and coverages? Still can’t do that well. Well, how about his deep-ball accuracy? Nope. Still not good.
It is wild to expect Nagy to help Trubisky in every single aspect of that game to make him into this elite quarterback, but to not have him improve in any of these areas after three years with him? It’s clear everything Nagy has taught and worked on with Trubisky has in all actuality made him worse if anything as 2018 was his best season with him getting progressively worse.
And it’s not just Trubisky who has gotten worse. Foles has gotten worse as well as he looks worse than when he had his seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions season in St. Louis with the Rams. He looks even worse here than when he was in Jacksonville.
All in all, Nagy has failed. Sure, he developed a “culture”, but that isn’t enough to save his job. Enough is enough with Nagy. It’s time the Bears move on and it is for the better.