Matt Nagy, Nick Foles at a Loss Over How to Get Offense Moving
The Bears are trending down and out on offense
Way down and way out.
The trend begins with being unable to run, then they have to pass too much just to move the ball and they might complete some passes and move the ball but against better teams like the Rams and Indianapolis Colts, and even in a win over Tampa Bay, they're unable to do this consistently.
The end result is a 5-2 team seems like a 2-5 team, and Matt Nagy was saying as much after Monday night's 24-10 loss.
He's never been through something like this.
"The only choice we have right now probably, and I know this for sure, would be that we have to pull together as best as we can and fight through this adversity as hard as it is," Nagy said. "Because the word frustration is easily exaggerated in these times and it should be. Having that happen, we have to understand, ‘OK, what are we doing that's not working?' And let's not do that.
" 'What are we doing that is working?' And let's get back to more of that. I wish I had a better answer for you but again I am not going to criticize or challenge any of our guys' effort but something is obviously off so we have to figure out what that is because until we start running the ball, we can't be one-dimensional."
The Bears offense got outscored by their own defense, let alone the Rams offense. Eddie Jackson's fumble return for a TD might have satisfied some because he finally got into the end zone after questionable calls wiped out earlier TDs this year, but in the end it meant nothing because of this Bears offensive trend that takes the offense into the gutter.
Nagy was asked about a comment ESPN announce Brian Grieise made during the ESPN telecast that Nick Foles supposedly criticized him for not getting plays in fast enough.
“We were talking to Nick Foles yesterday, and he said, 'You know, sometimes play calls come in and I know that I don’t have time to execute that play call,' " Griese said. " 'You know, I’m the one out here getting hit. Sometimes the guy calling the plays, Matt Nagy, he doesn't know how much time there is back here.'
"So that’s something that they have to get worked out."
Foles said Griese misunderstood him. Griese, a former Bears quarterback, had once told the media at Halas Hall he called the plays in a two-minute rally to beat Philadelphia instead of former offensive coordinator Ron Turner, and sources close to the situation then said none of this was true.
So perhaps his comment must be taken with a grain of salt and it did come during the fourth quarter when the ESPN telecast was obviously desperate to retain viewers during a bornig and horrible effort by the Bears.
Nagy seemed more dazed by what he'd just seen from his offense, or hadn't seen. He didn't really care about some comment by Griese or interview Griese had with Foles.
:Nick and I have a pretty good relationship, and he hasn’t said that,” Nagy said. “I’m sure he’ll explain what he meant by that.”
When Nagy was pressed on it, he was still shaking his head about how poor the offense had been.
"I have no idea but I don't ever remember having our own defense score more than our offense," Nagy said. "That's hard to do. That part I don't like and that bothers me."
The running game is where it starts but 49 rushing yards, and only 175 rushing yards in the last four games, is an invitation to lose the remaining games.
"Yeah, it's tough," Nagy said. "It's, uh, where I am at with it? It's not where I wanna be, you know. You gotta run the ball in this league and you gotta be able to run the ball. We're trying to figure out ways to do it and right now we gotta be better there. It starts with me."
Foles indicated Griese misunderstood what he was told, anyway.
"Once again coach Nagy and I have a great relationship and I would never say anything like that," Foles said. "I can see how it would be taken that way. I was able to see the video real quick.
"Those conversations, obviously, everything I know about Brian is he's a great dude. They're quick, 5-10 minute conversations and you can't get into detail, but you'll see coach Nagy and I during games going through calls and talking and going down the line and part of that is addressing like, 'Hey what do we feel like? What do we think 'Hey, what's going on on the defense? Are they giving us trouble?' Stuff like that."
Whether the two are having communication troubles at this point seems less important than the actual lack of production occurring, and the fact even Nagy seems befuddled over how to get it corrected.
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