The Chicago Bears win over Detroit came with a different offense than we were used to seeing in the past couple of weeks. While the Lions defense contributed to that, it was clear there was another signal-caller, and Matt Nagy admitted as much, saying that Bill Lazor handled the duties.
With that in mind, there were noticeable differences between Nagy and Lazor. What are they, and will they continue in the upcoming weeks?
Giving Justin Fields chip blocks
You saw that the formations, personnel, and other adjustments in the Lions game did not show in others. It seemed apparent against Myles Garrett and Jadeveon Clowney that they were too powerful for the Chicago Bears’ tackles. However, Matt Nagy seemed to be too caught up in his call sheet to notice trends and make changes in the game. Perhaps now that Nagy is not on the play sheet, he can pick up on small details.
Against the Browns, the Bears gave their tackles almost no help. On Sunday, they increased the percent of snaps that Cole Kmet stayed in to block on passing downs from 6% to 25%. Jimmy Graham went from not blocking against Cleveland to 10% of pass attempts staying into chip.
Buying Fields that extra second is huge, especially as he adjusts to the speed. Seeing them do this against Detroit, who does not have great edge rushers, after failing to do it against Cleveland and Garrett, shows that this is an obvious adjustment missed last week.