Why Bears GM Ryan Pace Must Sync Up with His Coach
To put it simply, Ryan Pace needs to be on the same page as Matt Nagy in this NFL free agency period and draft.
This should seem simple considering Pace hired Nagy and the two say they work well together.
Apparently it hasn't been the case, though, because so many of Nagy's players seem ideally suited to play in some offensive system other than his.
Much was made over this topic last year, about how Nagy refused to try and adjust his offense to fit the talent at hand. He was supposed to adopt the I-formation and put Mitchell Trubisky under center, everyone whined.
Nagy even addressed this topic at the NFL Scouting Combine.
"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," Nagy said. "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."
He's just being nice.
Nagy shouldn't be kowtowing to those who think he needs to adapt.
It might not be fair to the players to expect them to adapt, as Nagy said. If they can't, they should simply be gone and this is the time of year to make sure of it.
It's Nagy's job to coach the team at hand, sure, but if the Bears are serious about actually winning games and winning championships then they are supplying him with the kind of talent necessary to make his system work.
Otherwise, they could have just kept John Fox and Dowell Loggains here and run an I-formation Woody Hayes/Bo Schembechler attack while beating their brains against the wall so they could max out with five wins.
In the offseason, Nagy doesn't need to coach misfits. He can wait for Pace to actually do his job and supply talent best suited to fit what he's trying to do on offense.
Pace has failed to do this so far and here are some classic examples.
When Nagy came in, the Bears had a drastic need for receivers of any kind. Mitchell Trubisky was throwing it to players who weren't even practice squad level with many other teams. So they brought in Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and drafted Anthony Miller. Gabriel wasn't an established deep threat, although he definitely had speed.
To run this offense, the Bears need a deep threat who can stretch the field.
In two seasons Gabriel didn't really stretch defenses. He made some nice catches, hauled in plenty of receptions with defenders on his back and got hit enough to suffer some concussions.
They went into the draft and what did Pace do for Nagy? He drafted Riley Ridley, who runs 4.53 in the 40 and is known as a 50-50 receiver who excels at going up for a ball. Sound like someone already on the offense? Try Robinson. Try Javon Wims, for that matter.
There's still no speed receiver, no legitimate lid lifter in sight. It hurts.
The Bears were among the league's worst teams in yards after the catch because they had defensive backs draped all over receivers' backs, and also because Trubisky couldn't get the ball out soon enough to let them gain yards after the catch. He also couldn't get it out accurately deep to pick up big chunks of yardage downfield but the receivers weren't getting open downfield for the most part anyway.
It should also be fairly apparent after one year that most of the linemen blocking last year couldn't be effective on inside zone blocks. They were built more for the outside zone. Nagy wants to be running inside zone attached to the RPO passing game. Yet, Pace locked up all the offensive linemen on deals. And since then they lost Kyle Long.
Trubisky was thought to be a fit for Nagy's offense but Nagy didn't bring him here for this offense. Pace brought him here, and he first learned in the Loggains offense. It's entirely possible Trubisky fits either the Loggains type of attack or none at all, because so far he hasn't adapted to Nagy's offense.
Then again, if you can't consistently hit open receivers downfield you're not fitting into anyone's system.
Pace and Nagy can sync up. They proved it last year.
Nagy wanted a running back who could break tackles and catch the ball. Pace maxed out for the pick the Bears had with David Montgomery. Actually, he had to trade up to get Mongtomery so he more than maxed out. He identified a player who fits the system and went after him.
Now Pace needs to apply this approach in several other positions. They need a tight end, they need at least two offensive linemen, they need a speed receiver ... still.
It's time Pace starts to bring in talent so his head coach can run the offense he wants to run and isn't told he has to adapt his system to misfits.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
