Not sure if you watched the game last night or not but the Chiefs looked nearly in midseason form despite no preseason games and a pandemic. Andy Reid was also very much dialed in on his playcalling. This was a beauty... The Bears have a very similar play to this in their arsenal and it's been called more than once. It never looks that pretty and my guess is if they run it Sunday and it doesn't work...most fans will point to Nagy and say he can't run plays. But play execution is as important as playcalling. And it's where the Bears players fail most often. The 3rd component is knowing when to call a play. Knowing what's worked so far and seeing and sensing what the defense is doing. That, in my opinion, is where Nagy fails most often. It's not enough to have a creative playbook. Or even to have players with the skillset capable of running it. There's a formula that good coaches know. Certain plays will work better early in a game...certain plays later. Some runs or screens need a setup...a play you run earlier in the game that gives a defense a certain look so later when you run it they bite and it works. Some of it is feeling what players are locked in and which ones aren't. Some of that comes with experience. But coaches who don't catch on early rarely stick around long enough to gain that experience. Nagy has shown glimpses. But I can't think of a single game in his tenure where I felt his playcalling was locked in for the entire game. There are always rough patches where there feels like a disconnect between what he is calling and what the offense/opposing defense is doing. Andy Reid has an advantage because of the talent on the field. But his playcalling is flawless at times. The execution is certainly there but the rhythm of the playcalls and story being told throughout the course of the game is seamless and just a thing of beauty to watch. If the Bears offense is gonna take a step forward this season...Nagy's progression is nearly as important as Mitch Trubiskys. He has to get on the same page with his offense. I know we will see some silliness at times and I'm okay with it if it comes naturally and doesn't disrupt the flow of the offense. No real point to this post...I was just rewatching highlights from last night and Reid's playcalling really showed up to me.
Execution has not been there at times, no doubt...but I also think a complete offense sets up plays like that perfectly. Their rookie Edwards-Helaire gutting Houston with just remarkably simple zone blocking (which Nagy tries to do but the offensive line just couldn't last year because Kyle Long mattered to that) annoys me because that's how this offense is run at its best--when you don't know what to expect. Its also incredibly unfair to watch the best player in football and at quarterback do it flawlessly then look at the bears with their '1 read then throw' guy when it comes to zone coverage because he can't read it. The system is modern, and works incredibly well. Yes--you do need the right personnel and the best QB of the generation doesn't hurt. It's the future of football. It also fucking sucks to know that if Nagy gets shitcanned sooner, the bears will turn away from it and revert to the stupid old ways of the John Fox's of the world. With what he's done for two franchises now, taking them from obscurity to the penthouse is remarkable. He's pretty damn likable too, don't the chiefs have some season ticket holder that literally is Andy Reid's clone? Good dude off the field too. This is the key right here. No more throwing 53 times and running 7 per game. Juan Castillo was brought in to fix the run game and he's done so very well with the last two teams he was with in the 2010s (bills and ravens). Let him fix it. It makes me be able to stomach Germaine Ifedi because he projects to be a solid run mauler at guard, minus penalties--and god help us if he ever has to fill in at tackle for an injury, because Seattle found out the hard way he cant. But a simple fix as that, and Nagy should be able to scheme together something pretty to watch. Teams not knowing what to expect play on their heels, and that's when the window dressing plays work their magic. The bears aren't devoid of talent offensively either, sans the offensive line--which stands to fuck the entire season if they're garbage. We all hated and complained about Bobby Massie in 2018 when they were winning. He was their best Olineman last year. That's fucking sad, and Pace did nothing at tackle, just replace a damned good RG with a cheap option another team couldn't wait to get rid of... Scheme wont matter if the line sucks.
I think Nagy’s biggest issue is the running game. He just can’t get out of his own way when it comes to this part of football. It showed in the AFC playoff game against the Titans when he was with the Chiefs and it has been a continued failure in his tenure here. He can hire whoever he wants to build a running game. It is up to him as the play caller to use it and utilize it correctly.
But what do you do when nothing has worked? Because there were games last year where nothing worked. Mitch failing to go through the simplest read on an RPO and taking a sack instead of completing a 5 yard pass to a wide open receiver. Or a zone blocking run game where your guards don't lay a finger on the opposing lineman and Montgomery has no where to move. The problem is exasperated because then Nagy gets desperate and starts calling HB dives to Cordarrelle Patterson, or triple reverses to Cohen that lose 8 yards. Nagy tries to outsmart himself after it's painfully obvious that his players suck at executing the most basic of plays. Reid doesn't have to because most anything he calls will be effective. Not making excuses for Nagy, you're right that he simply fails to adjust, and this is why he's shown he is not a great coach. But personnel is a bigger problem for us than playcalling.
You sign or draft players that are capable of running the scheme. Maybe stop pissing away draft picks. Start the 21 million dollar backup you traded for? But Reid has gotten results for years. With a lot of different players. I think the Bears issues have a lot less to do with personnel than they do coaching/execution/so on. Not saying we have Chiefs like talent...we don't. But there is enough talent on the roster to make a system work. Outside of QB.....Mitch has not shown he's the guy that can run the offense...go off script when needed...improvise when shit breaks down and so on.
Of all the different types of screnes in Nagys playbook, the inside TE screen has been by far the most productive and its not close. In fact it has long confused me how Nagy himself cant see this, because while the RB screen gets called at least twice a game(sometimese more depite being shit) you can go games without seeing that inside TE screen. And gameflow/D alignments is not an excuse. You talk about feel during a game and uour right, but what im talking about here is basic film study of your own offense and somehow Nagy doesn't seem to get it. Stuff like this is why i have so little faith in him. Pat is right about the future of offense etc, but i don't see that future lying with Nagy. He doesnt have the consistentcy of skill and he doesnt have the ability to learn. Nagy has def managed to achieve this at times in the past. Im too shitfaced to gives examples but i know cos ive talked about it in posts after games. He has def run two successful plays from what looks to a D like the same formation and used the success of the first play to setup what dhe does to succeed in the second. But he cant be consistent and it happens rarely. And i actually think part of the problem is ego. Nagy calls inexplicable plays sometimes. He can be rolling and the D cant do shit then he'll call something completely off thewall and uncalled for when he just needed to keep doing what he was doing and it will kill all momentum. That imo is an ego play. Thats him wanting to be the genius professor that we all rave about. If EJax plays on Offense this season it will be another example of self-indulgence over greater good. ANd none of that is meant to put everyhting on playcalling, cos i think this offfense is incredibly badly coached. Particularly in the run. For example the concept of inside zone combo blocks before 1 guy then getting to the 2nd level effectively is something Bears were horrific at last year. The technique behind that really shouldn't be that hard yet it killed numerous plays last year. Thats coaching. Not trying to excuse Mathews inneptitude here but he hasn't had the help he deserved re personnel. OK theres a galactic difference between talent level of the Beras O vs the Chiefs O, most teams can say that. But for the Bears O theres also a talent difference with most other offenses in the league too. There simply isn't the talent there should be on the Bears Offense and that falls squarely on the GM.
This doesn't surprise me. Reid is a seasoned coach. While it kinda looked like a "mid-season" caliber team, Reid knows that in normal pre-season games, the defense always starts out faster. No reason to take down field risks in game 1. He will release his thoroughbred later this year. We know Mahomes has extremely strong down-field throwing strength. Unlike our piece of shit... I really don't feel our coach has the play-calling ability nor the QB talent to do what Reid can do. Pace fucked this team for years to come with his Trubisky pick. Not just that the pick itself was bad, but everything he did to build around that pick has fucked the tema. The only thing we can hope for this year is the Bears have a "freak" year where all their player play way above expectations and shock the world. REalistically, I think we're goign to be mired in a middling win season. And at the end get a crappy pick and wish we had tanked....
Option??? How often do you think Mitch has determined where he is going with the ball before the ball is even snapped?
