The Chicago Bears had two press conferences today — neither were made public. The first was held by general manager Ryan Pace, while the second was by head coach Matt Nagy. Despite the press conferences not being made public, that did not keep Bears insiders from keeping us updated via social media. It seems that neither press conference led to any new information, except for one major thing that stood out.
Before we get to that, let’s just brief you on what went down. Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy spoke highly of Mitch Trubisky. Did we expect anything different? No matter if you like Mitch Trubisky the player or not, you have to at least like the man.
The other takeaway from the press conference is that all signs still point to Andy Dalton being the guy. We have heard this story before though and I am not putting much value into it. I do believe Dalton is going to be the starting quarterback as we head into the regular season, but I sure as hell hope that the Chicago Bears at least draft a quarterback to put pressure on Dalton.
It does not appear they will find one in the first round, but that should not stop them from drafting one on Day 2. Names like Jamie Newman, Kellen Mond, Kyle Trask and Davis Mills should be on everyone’s radar.
Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy states he will be calling plays this season
Here is the only news that we can take from the Chicago Bears press conferences today. Matt Nagy announced he plans on handling the play calls again this season.
Matt Nagy will call the plays in 2021.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) April 2, 2021
We have seen what calling plays have done for Matt Nagy already, and last season we saw what this team can do without Matt Nagy calling plays. I think too many of these younger coaches get too hung up on being in control and making the play calls. This does not mean that Nagy wouldn’t be involved in developing the plays. It would still be his offense.
Last season, Matt Nagy relinquished his play-calling duties heading into the bye week. After the bye, the Chicago Bears had what many would call an easier schedule after the bye, but a switch to the offense definitely made the offense look better as well.
The team averaged just over 30 points per game while Lazor was in charge of calling the plays on game day. During the span before Lazor was handling the play calls, the Chicago Bears averaged just over 300 yards in offense per game. After the Lazor took over, the team averaged over 380 yards per game. Again, we can look at the opponents, but that also includes two games versus the Packers where the team gained over 350 yards and still averaged 23.5 points per game.
Why would Matt Nagy want to revert back? Some say it’s because he has a competent quarterback now. Well, isn’t that what Nick Foles was supposed to be? Foles even had negative comments about Nagy making play calls that he knew he would not have time to make before being sacked or pressured. Seems like Foles was not a big fan of Nagy’s play-calling and he’s now basically on the outs. Is Dalton going to make that big of a difference? Call me skeptical.
Here’s the thing. Matt Nagy knows his job is on the line (or at least we hope it is). His control-freak nature is taking over and he does not trust anyone else despite proof last season that he does a better job managing the team as a leader. A leader and inspirer is what Matt Nagy does best in my opinion. You can be a great head coach this way and not call the plays. Unfortunately, Matt Nagy has not seemed to learn his lesson. Let’s hope he is quicker to make a change in 2021.
One of our other contributors said it best. One could argue that Matt Nagy is in this position because he was too stubborn to relinquish play-calling sooner.