Well, where do we start with this Bears performance?
This was quite possibly Matt Nagy’s worst game in his tenure as the head coach of the Chicago Bears. From start to finish the Bears were on the backfoot, they were outplayed, out manned and out coached in all three phases.
I expected that coming into this game the offence would make some incremental improvements, nothing spectacular, but show signs of getting this thing going in the right direction. I also expected that the defence would again play lights out and make some big plays to win this game for the offence. This was not to be.
The offence scored a total of 3 points. 3 points.
I’m not sure what the game plan was coming into this one. In terms of the running game, Nagy insisted on running the ball up the middle at Aaron Donald, either that or he would hand the ball off in a crucial situation to the WR/Special Teamer Cordarrelle Patterson. Patterson is not a running back, he is not good on short yardage plays, everyone else can see it – including the opposition defensive coordinator – why can’t Nagy?
Bears struggle the same ways again
The same old struggles were evident again. They were poor on 3rd down, poor in the red zone, and achieved a total of 279 offensive yards. This team needs to change something.
The personnel questions continued with Jimmy Graham being taken out of red zone situations and Demetrius Harris getting snaps that should be given to the deserving Cole Kmet. Stop overthinking it.
The defence did not have a good game, they looked gassed and pissed off, but not in a good way. Eventually, it will be the case that if this offence cannot start positively contributing to games then the defence will start to suffer from being on the field so often.
Tashaun Gipson should have had an interception in the 1st half, he also missed a crucial tackle in the 3rd quarter which led to the Rams scoring their 3rd touchdown. Danny Trevathan continues to be a shadow of his former self, and it leaves you thinking that maybe the Bears should signed Nick Kwiatkoski instead. Eddie Jackson scored the Bears only touchdown with a recovery from the forced fumble tackle from Robert Quinn, but unfortunately that one moment of class wasn’t enough to spur on another comeback.
The Bears are really missing Tarik Cohen, especially on punt returns. Ted Ginn Jr had a bad outing, avoiding catching nearly every punt that was kicked his way. At this point you have to wonder what purpose he serves on this team, I’m sure there are better candidates to return punts and play receiver either on the team already or on the market.
Something needs to change.
There are a few issues that you could attribute to the consistent offensive struggles. Poor offensive line play, not getting the running game going and the quarterback situation to name a few. By far the easiest change that could be made is having someone else call the plays. Matt Nagy owes it to this team as a concerned head coach to at least give this a try. This then allows him to focus on the bigger picture whilst still retaining his veto should he disagree with a playcall.
During the ESPN broadcast, former Bears QB Brian Griese mentioned an interview that he conducted with Nick Foles before the game where Foles allegedly said that there are some playcalls sent in that he knows he won’t have time to execute:
From what Nagy and Foles have said there is no truth to this report and it was all a miscommunication. It very well could be that this has been blown out of proportion, nevertheless it has added fuel to the fire in Chicago and has given the media types something to run with for the next few weeks.
The Bears are now 5-2 and have a tough run of games coming up. I had predicted the Bears beating the Rams, but slipping up against the Saints and the Titans. We can only hope that they come out angry and focused on Sunday at home to New Orleans and make a statement. We’ll see.
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