Matt Nagy is a sharp offensive mind. That isn't up for debate. However, being a good offensive mind and being a good play caller can be two different things. Especially in the NFL. Nothing can kill a coach when it comes to running an offense on game days more than tendencies. If defenses get any sniff that you have certain tendencies with your play calls, they will jump all over it. In regards to the Chicago Bears head coach? He has a giant one that has become more and more of a factor every week.
Nagy is too quick to abandon the run.
It's a simple process. The Bears try to run the ball early. The opposing defense stuffs it a few times. Nagy shrugs his shoulders and starts throwing the ball constantly. Just look at the losses to New Orleans and Oakland for evidence. On the first two drives against the Saints, the Bears ran the ball three times for three yards. They ended up running it just four more times the rest of the game. The week before they ran it just 17 times including seven in the first half.
It almost seems like Nagy believes the running game will never work if it doesn't do so right away. Yet none of this is the crazy part. What makes it all incredible is that the man himself openly admitted that he does this willingly. If the run doesn't work, he'll throw.
“It's really simple math. The objective is to get first downs. I don't care if I have to throw the ball 60 times a game, if that's what's going to help us win a game.”
Matt Nagy shows his gross lack of experience as a play caller
That comment, more than anything else, proves just how inexperienced Nagy is at calling plays at the NFL level. He's only been doing it for two seasons worth of games to this point with a lot of good and bad. Unfortunately in that time, he hasn't grasped a simple logic of professional football. Unless you have an elite quarterback and great blocking, throwing it almost constantly is a losing proposition. The Bears have neither of those things. Yet their run-pass percentage is heavily skewed towards the latter with the team throwing over 60% of their total plays.
And that was before the game against New Orleans.
By contrast, here are the five teams who rank at the bottom of pass play percentage thus far:
- San Francisco
- Minnesota
- Baltimore
- Seattle
- Indianapolis
Four of those five teams currently lead their divisions and the other is 5-2. Four of them also have quarterbacks who nobody would call elite. This is what common sense does for a team in the NFL. Running the ball eases the pressure on the QB and keeps the defense rested. Nagy keeps saying the offensive struggles start with him. That has never been truer. He did everything in his power to run Jordan Howard out of town and now he refuses to use the guy (David Montgomery) the team worked hard to get for him.
That is just bad coaching.
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