Inept offensive game plan leads to Bears loss

Before I really get rolling, let me say that my title is a bit misleading. You may assume that you’ve come here to read all about how Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy crapped down his leg while coaching last night against the Green Bay Packers during their 10 to 3 loss.

That’s not entirely true.

Coaches coach, but players have to make plays, and last night quarterback Mitchell Trubisky didn’t make plays. In fact, he missed plays. He missed open receivers, but it’s not all on him, because his pass protection didn’t do him any favors. He was sacked five times, hit six other times, and was forced into three scrambles. And let’s not forget the flags, because his offensive line was flagged four times, his offense had two delay of game penalties, plus there was a pass interference penalty.

The entire offense needs to look in the mirror and that includes Matt Nagy, who called a horrible game.

The best bit of coaching advice I’ve ever received was when I was 21-years old and it came at halftime of my very first game. I was the head sophomore coach at Richmond-Burton High School and we were losing 14-7 in the second quarter. I don’t remember the specifics, but I do recall the team we were playing had all the momentum after scoring two straight touchdowns. We got the ball back with some time before the half, and since I was also the play caller, I started to open things up. I desperately wanted to get a touchdown before halftime so I had my quarterback throwing all over the field. We made a couple lucky plays to keep some drives alive, but then my quarterback was picked off and the defender took it back for a touchdown. We went into the half down 21-7.

As I was coming off the field our varsity head coach walked by me, grabbed me by the arm, and asked, “You’re only down one score, so why aren’t you running your offense?” I knew the question was rhetorical, so I just gave him a nod and ran off to talk with my team.

That has stayed with me through all my years coaching, and it stays with me to this day.

Matt Nagy and the Bears revamped their running backs in the offseason, and in week one against the Green Bay Packers, in the 100th anniversary kickoff game, the Bears only had three called running plays in the second half.

That’s inexcusable in a one score game.

Matt Nagy abandoned his game plan, a game plan that wasn’t very run heavy to being with for some reason with the Packers spending so much time in nickel and dime, and had Trubisky drop back to throw 32 times in the second half.

Thirty-two drop backs to only three runs in the second half of a one score game is criminal.

If you count the penalties, the Bears ended the game calling thirty-three straight passes. Their last run came with 10:31 left to go in the 3rd quarter with the Bears only down 7 to 3.

Now some of those 53 drop backs we’re likely run pass options (RPOs) that Trubisky decided to pass, but at some point the play caller has to make an adjustment and run the damn ball.

Simply inexcusable.

Matt Nagy has to get better and managing a game and managing his third year quarterback.

But now let’s take a closer look at the playing time break downs for the Bears, and also some individual stats.

OFFENSE

Trubisky ended up 26 of 45 for 228 yards, one interception, for a passer rating of 62.1. He also scrambled three times for eleven yards while getting sacked five times.

His top receiver was Allen Robinson II who hauled in 7 passes for 102 yards. Taylor Gabriel had 2 grabs for 24 yards, and Anthony Miller didn’t have any receptions.

Tarik Cohen caught 8 for 49 yards, and he didn’t get a rushing attempt.

Mike Davis led the Bears in rushing with 19 yards on 5 carries, and he added 6 catches for 17 yards. Rookie David Montgomery had 6 runs for 18 yards, and caught 1 for 27 yards.

Adam Sheheen had 1 catch for 6 yards.

DEFENSE

Kyle Fuller led the Bears with 6 tackles and his 2 passes defended tied Prince Amukamara, who added 3 tackles of his own.

The Bears recorded 5 sacks of their own with Leonard Floyd getting 2, and Roy Robertson-Harris, Aaron Lynch, and Akiem Hicks each getting one.

Khalil Mack was one of four Bears with five tackles.

As a team, the Bears held Green Bay to only 2.1 yards per rush, but they allowed Aaron Rodgers to burn them with a deep 47 yard pass plus a touchdown.

As awful as the Bears offense was, they still had more total yards than Green Bay (254 to 213), and a better 3rd down conversion percentage (20% to 17%), and were slightly better in yards per play (3.9 to 3.7).

Chicago’s defense doesn’t look like a unit that will regress, but about that offense...

SPECIAL TEAMS*

*The above image has players that only played in the third phase.

Eddy Pineiro made his only field goal, a 38 yarder, while Patrick O’Donnell punted 8 times (3 inside the 20) with a 42.5 net average.

Cohen returned 4 punts for 36 yards, and Kevin Pierre-Louis made the lone special teams tackle for the Bears.

All statistics and snap counts are taken directly from the NFL’s Game Statistic and Information System, as are the accompanying pictures.

To check out all the team and individual stats from the game I find that ESPN has an easy to navigate site.