When the Chicago Bears announced that David Montgomery was back from his injury, the expectation was that he would go back to his role as the featured runner. This would mean that Khalil Herbert, arguably the Bears hottest offensive player, would be relegated to the bench.
Nagy said that Montgomery earned his starter share, which is fair, but he also noted that he would like to mix Herbert in because of his success. Instead, David Montgomery played 85%, and Khalil Herbert dropped to just 17%. Herbert had just four carries.
No one expected a 50/50 timeshare, but Herbert surely earned more than 17% of the snaps after his past couple of weeks, especially as the offense struggled.
However, it was so obvious the Bears would not mix in both backs because Matt Nagy is awful at adjusting in-game. For Nagy to pull Montgomery for Herbert, he would have to feel for the game and when the right time to pull the trigger would be.
This is where Nagy is the worst. We have harped on it for months that Nagy fails to mix in personnel throughout the game. He sticks to his game plan and struggles to adjust when things inside the game change.
Nagy was not calling plays but was too involved in whatever it was to recognize that the run game could use Khalil Herbert for a spark.
The Bears mixed in both Montgomery with Herbert at times, which would have been smart. However, they ran them out of the wildcat.
These plays worked as drawn up, but they took Justin Fields, one of the best mobile quarterbacks in the NFL, away from having his hands on the ball. On the contrary, he mixed in wildcat, something that was designed before the game. Wildcat is good for slow quarterbacks; with Fields, he is a wildcat.
So, the only time Nagy got creative and worked Herbert with Montgomery was not that great of a wrinkle. Beyond that, he failed to know when and how to mix Herbert in. This is no surprise at all, considering this is what Nagy has done his whole career.