Are Bears So Desperate They Need Another Rash Decision?
If this move by Matt Nagy to replace himself as play caller with Bill Lazor smacks of desperation, it's because this is a desperate situation.
Desperation doesn't necessarily require rash decisions.
The Bears offense hasn't been able to run the ball since Week 3 and they've gone where most teams in the NFL go who have no ability to pick up the short yardage for a first down or at the goal line, or have no ability to keep defenses honest when they want to do nothing more than tee off with their pass rush.
This hasn't been a case of Nagy abandoning the run as some have suggested.
They haven't been able to run even though they've tried. In fact, they've continued to run in some games when they should have simply quit out of frustration.
Then came injuries to the offensive line, to David Montgomery and there is no way to run the ball now even if they wanted to do it.
This is one of the reasons the switch in play callers is so silly at this point.
No play-calling change is going to earn the Bears the ability to run the ball against the Vikings, a team they should be able to run against because they rank 20th at stopping the rush.
But the Bears have faced worse run defenses than Minnesota's and couldn't run. Tennessee wasn't a good rush defense. Neither was Carolina. They had 63 yards rushing against the Panthers and 56 against the Titans.
They'll not beat Minnesota or Green Bay with 63 or 56 yards rushing.
Matt Nagy wasn't doing the blocking. He simply called the plays. Bill Lazor isn't going to do the blocking.
Neither Lazor nor Nagy are bringing back the injured or ill offensive linemen who can at least give them hope of running it.
So this offense is going nowhere regardless of who calls the plays. The only way it improves is when health of the line improves, and even then it's going to be marginal because of the overall talent level.
Another reason Nagy shouldn't have chosen this week to make this move is the opponent.
If you've got the knack for beating another coach, you stick with it. Mike Zimmer hasn't been able to beat the combination of Nagy and the Bears defense.
Why change the dynamic now?
Switching play callers is just like the rash decision Nagy made to switch quarterbacks. It was only Week 3. They were unbeaten at the time. Even if they'd lost that game, they were still running it. As long as they could do that, then they had a chance offensively.
When he swapped out Mitchell Trubisky for Nick Foles, Nagy left them with an immobile quarterback. As poor as Trubisky was, he at least kept defenses honest with his legs or the threat of his legs. So teams couldn't tee off on the Bears running backs on RPO plays. They also had Trubisky's scrambling ability which could keep plays alive.
Foles is a better quarterback than Trubisky, and a better quarterback for playing from behind against an opponent, but not for playing from behind this disaster of an offensive line.
So Nagy has just made a second rash decision.
By doing this, he has thrown his hat into the ring of at-risk coaches.
The McCaskey family has not been in a habit of firing coaches with two years left on their contract, especially if they haven't yet posted a losing record. Firing Nagy with two years left on his deal?
That's just a dream for the silly rumor mongers on Twitter. That is, unless he completely lost the team like Marc Trestman did, but these guys still believe in every word he says. He still hasn't had a losing season and has a winning record as the coach.
Ryan Pace's position doesn't seem so secure, but this is about Nagy.
"I just feel like for our team right now, when you're going through what we're going through offensively, just like I said in regards to Mitchell and with Nick, I talked about it being a gut feeling," Nagy said.
And that gut feeling hasn't been a resounding success by any means. Let's be real.
Foles has a worse yards per pass attempt than Trubisky did. His completion percentage is better but he's not getting enough bigger gains, and his lack of scrambling or running ability leaves them locked in on throwing it from the pocket.
"It's like bringing in, for instance, a different style pitcher," Nagy said. "You have one pitcher that throws one way, now you have another pitcher that throws another way.
"Sometime change can be good in that regard, so again, none of it was for a particular reason other than we've just been struggling and I feel like it's the best thing for this team."
He should ask Ricky Renteria how changing pitchers works out for you when you don't need to do it.
Nagy talks about Andy Reid doing this and referred to how he got to call plays in 2017 after a Reid decision. Well, Reid had quite a bit more successful record when he made this decision than Nagy has. Street credit is a real thing in the NFL.
When you start making decisions based on gut instinct, it doesn't matter as much that the offensive line was injured or you lacked the right personnel to be effective.
What does matter is the coach acted in panic. Coaches who panic put their future at risk.
Like it or not, Nagy just bought his ticket to severe job scrutiny the rest of the way through what looks like a very difficult stretch of schedule.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
