Chicago Bears offense adds creative wrinkle

The Chicago Bears offense has been trying to get heavier. When they kept Jimmy Graham and signed Jesse James, it appeared as though they would be a heavy tight end offense. However, it did not take until Matt Nagy gave up play-calling and added multiple tight ends into the playbook.

Unfortunately, the team lost Jesse James and JP Holtz for the game. All of a sudden, the team was starting to show heavy looks had no heavy bodies. That is when the team got creative.

At times, Alex Bars, their backup lineman who has played various roles on the line, was subbed in as a third tight end. He wound playing 17 snaps, with 13 being runs and four being a pass.

He blocked on all his snaps but did go in motion on one snap to help keep the defense honest.

Still, the extra blocker was needed. To start, in a game where the Bears controlled, they needed to lean run-heavy and did not care if they were giving things away to do it. Beyond that, the team has been trying their hardest to add extra pass protectors on offense. Jason Peters and Germain Ifedi are weak options at tackle, and Ifedi left the game with an injury.

To help the tackles, the Bears have been keeping extra blockers into chip block. That happened on four plays with Alex Bars. The extra blocker bought Justin Fields extra time and helped develop passing plays.

Overall, this is the type of thing you expected from a Matt Nagy offense. Lineman motioning, extra tight ends, a mix of run and pass, this is what he preached in 2018. It is funny that it took him to give up play-calling to see his actual offense come to life. It does speak to the idea that Nagy was too far over his head, combining head coach duties with offensive coordinator duties.