I'm looking to get some views posted up in the random thoughts thread later this week. I got a chance to go back and view this game so I wanted to ask a couple questions here and gather some angles. This is all opinion based so anything goes - Attempting to remove hindsight, did anyone think it was too early in the season to go with Justin? It's obvious that Nagy needs to be shit canned, but does that mean Fields should continue to start or be protected for next season? Removing the horrible game plan, what was your opinion on Fields play? The defense is talented enough to carry the team. Should the next head coach be a defensive mind, another offensive mind, or do you see something else? Ok, it's your offense for the rest of the season. What are the concepts that you are implementing, style of play or otherwise (feel free to go as in-depth as you like)?
No. Continue to start him. He can't learn/adjust to game speed and process plays sitting on the bench and/or watching film. Not enough to grade on. 23/30 dropbacks were 5 man protection when it shouldn't have been. He missed 2 busted coverages--which if he sees he has 14 points. He also never turned the ball over despite being roadkill. The game is egregiously offensive based and tailored. The league wants teams scoring points with dynamic playmakers. Go offense. Brian Daboll from Buffalo, Joe Lombardi from the Chargers, or Byron Leftwich right now are the only 3 I'd talk to. If Fields is my starter, tailor everything to him. RPO. Moving pockets. Bootlegs, rollouts, the works. Make his life easier by making decisions easier while helping him with a nice RB who doesn't go down on 1st (or usually 2nd) contact and Allen Robinson. I'd also call and workout/sign Mitchell Schwartz, provided his medicals are clear and cut Germaine Ifedi.
I think Pat nails exactly how I feel. As far as head coach….I go offense. If you hire an established head coach that doesn’t call plays or a defensive minded guy that will hire someone that’s an offensive guy to call plays you run the risk of that OC succeeding and then being poached to be someone else’s HC. Firing Nagy gives you a shot to pair Fields with someone for 10 years.
Yes. From what he displayed in PS and early RS i felt his play clock was currently too slow. There isn't actually any rush to get him on the field, you can afford to take your time. That said, injury forced the situation, its the only reason he started on sunday. I did feel Dalton would lose the job thru poor play at some point, but it wouldn't have been week 3 against a top pass rush. And just to pre-empt anything, no i don't want to watch Foles under any circumstance. Its selfish and goes against everything i just said, but i cant watch Foles while there's any other option. Just can't. I don't ever want to see another game where Matt Nagy is game planning and play calling for Justin Fields. Ever. If he is then i'd rather you sit Fields the entire season personally. If it were Lazor or DeFilippo? Tempting since Lazor did suggest he has a modicum of football sense when he had the gig for 3 games last season. But honestly, i just don't trust Nagy to keep his nose out. Admittedly, im more old fashioned than the other guys here when it comes to this stuff. I am not a "throw them into the fire" advocate. I believe there is more value in patience the majority of the time re developing QBs. I honestly don't believe you can form one. He had no blocking, no WR's winning and the worst pay calling. I've always found it very easy to be honest about this stuff, if Fields had stunk i'd say so. But i don't believe a single QB in the league would've had much production in that game sunday so i have no judgements on Fields. Definitely Offense. I love good Defense but the Bears have to get with the times. I would make a huge push to completely overhaul the identity of this franchise, inc altering the balance so that most of your cap goes to the Offensive side every year. College concepts are infiltrating NFL play design more than ever, i would be very interested to see some young mind coming in. Im straying outside my area of expertise here but at the very least i would drop this ridiculous assumption in Halas Hall that if you are a young college HC then no matter how successful you've been you are somehow unqualified for the Bears job. All the things pat said really. I'd only add 2 minor things like half field reads for one. The Bears had quite a lot of success cutting Trubisky down to half field reads in 2018. His regression coincided with the dropping of this tactic. Also, on the rollouts first and foremost id like to see him actually rolling out to his throwing side more. Both boots against Cleveland were to his left. This is something Nagy loves doing cos it outsmarts the whole stadium. Most other teams rollout to the strong/throwing side the vast majority of the time. Hint: Other teams are right. On some of the rollouts id like high low concepts. Make it simple, make it fast. If its there take it if its not run. It might even help him speed up his decision making too.
Ev basically said everything I was going to. I didn't want Fields starting this early in the season - not only because of the pass rush he'd see, but because his OL and the offense were predictably going to be a mess. And here we are. I would've been fine having him sit all season, honestly, knowing what a shitshow this offense is - no hindsight necessary. I also don't want him starting for a Matt Nagy offense. If it were someone competent installing and calling plays, then fine - I'm down to get the kid reps. But I don't want him killed or ruined, and we know Nagy is going to do that. If Nagy is in charge of the offense, I want Fields on the bench. Fields is an asset that Nagy can ruin, and we can't afford that. As far as evaluating him, I don't think things have changed - he's incredibly gifted, but needs time. He's still slow to get the ball out of his hands, and I think the reason for it straddles his processing and his footwork depending on the play. But given the maturity he's displayed (far more than most Ohio State products in recent years, especially at QB), I think he'll get there. He's going to need help getting there, though, and he doesn't have it right now. We're wasting his time. I don't know a damn thing about coaches, I'm just going to say it. Personally, I hate when coaches decide they're the playcallers - I'd rather have a guy run the team, and have coordinators in charge of their side of the ball. I'm not basing that on staffs that I've seen succeed / fail, just my own preference. So I guess that's what I want. And everyone above nailed comments for the offense. I wrote in the game thread about Cleveland running a beautiful PA boot with high / low routes and how simple and effective it was... and how that's ALL WE'RE ASKING FOR. Just something simple that was designed for the skills you have at QB. Of course, Nagy said today that he doesn't change the offense or protections based on his QB, so... I can wish for these things all I want, but until this front office is run out of town, wishes are all I'll have.
To be specific about what I'd want to see out of an offense, because I realize I was pretty generic: This team is carrying 5 TE's, a bunch of small WR's, and has a good RB with a mobile QB. I would prefer a more run-focused, heavy offense - that's just what the personnel dictates. Your fast WR's don't threaten deep if teams know you don't have the time to throw deep, and your QB isn't processing fast enough to get these short comeback routes executed regularly moving down the field. Your OL isn't winning without help. So stop running empty sets, put a couple TE's on the field, and execute on multiple run concepts. One thing about Nagy running PA is that he doesn't fake the runs the team has actually been committing to and succeeding with. Simplify things for your QB, lean on the run, give him PA's that have a chance of actually working, and let him work basic high-low concepts out of these. It sounds simple because it is. But it's not the offense Nagy wants to run. So we're not going to get it.
Can I talk about how good my soup is again? Every single time I think of that live stream we did years ago I cringe. I'm still cringing.
I always know when people are serious because they double post their reply. Thank you Tim. Singularly one of the most embarrassing moments in my life as a football fan. Soup ... I mean seriously, you had 1 job Lou and look what you did with it ...
