Matt Nagy's Mistakes and How He Avoids a Repeat
Matt Nagy made mistakes and admits it.
Nagy committed the errors of a second-year coach last year, some of which he probably got away with in his first year because the team went on a roll.
He's owned them all to some extent all offseason, and especially during a recent stretch of internet video press conferences and interviews he has done.
Here are some of Nagy's key mistakes last year and how he'll try to correct them in Year 3 to avoid the a slide like they had in 2019.
The Preseason Question
He has said since the Nick Foles' acquisition there will be a need to play both quarterbacks in preseason. It only stood to reason he would have to play other starters more, as well.
It would be hard to play his starters less in preseason.
He confirmed all starters would play more during an interview this week on WMVP AM-1000 when asked about how he had decided last year to avoid playing them at all.
"And so, that's not going to happen this year. We're going to be a physically tough team. We are going to be a mentally tough team. They understand that. They're going to be tired about that. They're going to be tired of hearing attacking and aggressive. They're going to be tired of hearing about details. But, yes, you're right. I look back and I say if I could change something in 2019, it would be playing our starters more—100 percent."
This should help make the starters sharper than they looked on offense against Green Bay in last year's opener.
It's easy for Nagy to say he wants to play starters more in preseason now when he pretty much must do it, unless he wants to see Nick Foles playing behind a line with reserves Corey Levin, Dieter Eiselen, Arlington Hambright, Lachavious Simmons and Badara Traore.
It will be interesting to see whether his thoughts are the same if a preseason injury occurs to a vital starter.
Playing to Strengths
This mistake came in a few different forms. Basically it was using players in his favored scheme regardless of whether it was the best way to use them. He failed to adapt to his talent.
It's the responsibility of GM Ryan Pace to get him the talent for his scheme, but not every fit is going to be ideal and in only his second season not all were.
One example was how the Bears refused to move Mitchell Trubisky around extensively. Admittedly, it can be more difficult to do when they run an RPO offense against pro defensive speed. It can still be mixed in whether its on zone-reads, roll-out passes or a moving pocket.
One of the better ways to do it also goes hand in hand with the way they misused running back David Montgomery. If they used the I-formation more, they could occasionally run more bootleg passes when their quarterback lines up under center.
Backs can be better running out of a deep I-formation with the quarterback under center. They have more time. It's easier to read and choose holes in the zone blocking scheme.
The Bears avoided the I after using it far more effectively in 2018 when they had Jordan Howard.
Nagy said earlier this offseason he's more aware of Montgomery's skills and knows how to use him better going forward.
"We know what his strengths are and what his weaknesses are," Nagy said. "Could we have helped him last year by getting him the ball more? Yes, absolutely. It's a part of the identity."
At the combine, he said he's more willing to adapt to his talent.
"Whatever we need to do, you want to do that," Nagy said. "Now that I've had two years with this personnel and kind of building it and knowing who we are, it's so much easier to watch scheme eval and know what this guy does well, his weaknesses and his strengths.
"And so now, with that, it's not fair to force them into something that I do. Now, if you can get some of it that you do well, let's keep it going. But this is a clean slate and we want to make sure we give everybody the best opportunity."
The Chip
In conjunction with Pace, Nagy has had to restore the chip on his players' shoulders.
They definitely had it when no one respected them in 2018. Last year they played like a contented team.
The idea in the offseason for Pace was to create competition at as high of a level as possible for as many players as possible.
Now it's up to Nagy and his revised coaching staff to keep it at a high level for practices.
The idea is for them to feel challenged and never be content.
"I want everybody to feel that way," Nagy said earlier this offseason. "If you don't, you feel content and you play content. You don't have that chip.
"I think everybody on our team—and I had a lot of different individual talks with players and I'm not going to get into who they are or where they are at—but there are some guys and they know who they are that can play with a chip on their shoulder. And that's the part to me that going into this year I want to see, if they have that chip."
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