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http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-matt-nagy-mitch-trubisky-offense-20180531-story.html#nt=oft02a-1gp4
Matt Nagy couldn’t just cover the Chiefs offense in navy and orange bubble wrap and load it into his moving van to Halas Hall. Their innovative, potent attack is too complex with too many talented players to travel easily. The first-time head coach must re-assemble a new version with the Bears.
Nagy could bring only the thick instructions manual with him from Kansas City. So he has spent the last nine weeks of the offseason program with all the new pieces spread out in front of him, screwing and hammering, beginning with Step 1.
“They understand that in Kansas City it took us five years to get (where) we got to,” he said after a recent practice. “We’re kind of at a pace right now where we have to, at times, pull back and say to yourself: we’re months into this thing, not years. The more reps we can get in practice — whether it’s ... splits, alignments, shifts, motions — the more they can see themselves doing it. That’s what we want.”
That wasn’t the first or even second time Nagy has balanced his excitement about the offense publicly with realism about an extended timeline for building it.
It would be wise, then, to defer to his perspective when thinking ahead to the season and formulating expectations. Anticipating a finished product when the Bears open Sept. 9 against the Packers is wishful thinking.
It’s tempting, of course, to envision Mitch Trubisky slinging perfectly-timed throws to receivers who deftly adjust to coverages while the second-year quarterback operates an option attack that makes the Packers’ restructured defense look slow and confused.
More likely, though, Nagy’s offense will debut in a basic form. By midseason there will be more punch, and even more by season’s end.
Of more importance at this stage, seven weeks before training camp and three months before the season opener, is how enthusiastically Trubisky and his teammates have embraced the methodical growth process.
“Wrong footwork, the wrong read, just not detailing the play out enough — it’s all about learning and getting better each play and every day,” said Trubisky, who described the spring routine as “fun.”
He has progressed enough that the Bears are functional in practice, which is no faint praise. Nagy’s system requires the quarterback to get the offense into a favorable play at the line of scrimmage depending on the defense and then make quick decisions after the snap.
“He’s doing great,” new tight end Trey Burton said. “There might have been one or two times in the huddle we had to reset it because he forgot the terminology, but you would be impressed (considering) how long some of the plays are, all the things he has to say (and) all the things he has to check to and read.”
Backup quarterback Chase Daniel played for the Chiefs in 2013 when coach Andy Reid arrived there and installed the offense from which Nagy’s is derived. Nagy was the quarterbacks coach at the time.
Daniel estimates the Bears have installed 10 times as many plays as the Chiefs had in the spring five years ago. Nagy’s purpose at this stage, which he has referred to as Football 101, is to give Trubisky a lot to digest in order to gauge what he does well.
“The fact that we’re able to get lined up and compete with a defense that has 10 of 11 guys coming back, it’s pretty cool,” Daniel said.
Because Daniel and third-stringer Tyler Bray have years of experience in the scheme, they know during a play to make certain decisions that Trubisky hasn’t been exposed to yet. Those instances have prompted Trubisky to talk through those situations with the veterans.
“He might have the same play two or three times (from) different formations … because you’re going to see it against five different coverages,” Daniel explained. “These are our bread-and-butter plays. So he’s starting to understand, learn it and get to the Football 202, 303. And not only does he have to know what he’s doing, he also has to know what 10 other guys are doing. We’re just growing into it as we go.”
What’s clear through these process-driven spring practices is that excitement about the new offense and realism about the years required for it to mature are not mutually exclusive.
The balance is achieved with a combination of trust in Nagy’s acumen and track record and a collective work ethic that doesn’t shy from the mistake-filled practice sessions that provide the lessons necessary for growth.
Nagy has set the tone for that with how he communicates with players and how he continues to tweak the offense based on what works in practice.
“What Matt has told the team is: Let’s take baby steps,” Daniel said. “We’re not going to try to run before we walk. We need the details of every little thing we do, and then we can add from there.
“We have to set a foundation. We have to set something all guys are comfortable with, and we’re going to rep the crap out of all these plays, all the protections, everything like that. Because if we don’t, we’ll never have a solid foundation to build off. When we get into preseason and Week 1, then we can start adding some more flavor.”
One pillar of that foundation is the partnership between Nagy and Trubisky, which still is forming.
“What’s he’s trying to do is understand how we as coaches want him to think,” Nagy said. “Right now, it’s: let’s test it downfield a little bit. If you’re going to make a mistake and make a poor throw, let’s do it with an aggressive mentality. It’s OK now to make mistakes. We learn from them, we get them on tape and pull back from them during the season and figure out why we made that mistake. Either we stay away from it, or we improve it.”
By now, with three practices remaining this spring, the Bears have done enough that their classroom sessions no longer require video examples of the Chiefs running plays. The Bears watch themselves.
That step in the instructions manual is worth mentioning, but it’s far from the final page showing the finished product. Nagy won’t skip ahead to that end point. In this case, the builder knows best.
rcampbell@chicagotribune.com
Matt Nagy couldn’t just cover the Chiefs offense in navy and orange bubble wrap and load it into his moving van to Halas Hall. Their innovative, potent attack is too complex with too many talented players to travel easily. The first-time head coach must re-assemble a new version with the Bears.
Nagy could bring only the thick instructions manual with him from Kansas City. So he has spent the last nine weeks of the offseason program with all the new pieces spread out in front of him, screwing and hammering, beginning with Step 1.
“They understand that in Kansas City it took us five years to get (where) we got to,” he said after a recent practice. “We’re kind of at a pace right now where we have to, at times, pull back and say to yourself: we’re months into this thing, not years. The more reps we can get in practice — whether it’s ... splits, alignments, shifts, motions — the more they can see themselves doing it. That’s what we want.”
That wasn’t the first or even second time Nagy has balanced his excitement about the offense publicly with realism about an extended timeline for building it.
It would be wise, then, to defer to his perspective when thinking ahead to the season and formulating expectations. Anticipating a finished product when the Bears open Sept. 9 against the Packers is wishful thinking.
It’s tempting, of course, to envision Mitch Trubisky slinging perfectly-timed throws to receivers who deftly adjust to coverages while the second-year quarterback operates an option attack that makes the Packers’ restructured defense look slow and confused.
More likely, though, Nagy’s offense will debut in a basic form. By midseason there will be more punch, and even more by season’s end.
Of more importance at this stage, seven weeks before training camp and three months before the season opener, is how enthusiastically Trubisky and his teammates have embraced the methodical growth process.
“Wrong footwork, the wrong read, just not detailing the play out enough — it’s all about learning and getting better each play and every day,” said Trubisky, who described the spring routine as “fun.”
He has progressed enough that the Bears are functional in practice, which is no faint praise. Nagy’s system requires the quarterback to get the offense into a favorable play at the line of scrimmage depending on the defense and then make quick decisions after the snap.
“He’s doing great,” new tight end Trey Burton said. “There might have been one or two times in the huddle we had to reset it because he forgot the terminology, but you would be impressed (considering) how long some of the plays are, all the things he has to say (and) all the things he has to check to and read.”
Backup quarterback Chase Daniel played for the Chiefs in 2013 when coach Andy Reid arrived there and installed the offense from which Nagy’s is derived. Nagy was the quarterbacks coach at the time.
Daniel estimates the Bears have installed 10 times as many plays as the Chiefs had in the spring five years ago. Nagy’s purpose at this stage, which he has referred to as Football 101, is to give Trubisky a lot to digest in order to gauge what he does well.
“The fact that we’re able to get lined up and compete with a defense that has 10 of 11 guys coming back, it’s pretty cool,” Daniel said.
Because Daniel and third-stringer Tyler Bray have years of experience in the scheme, they know during a play to make certain decisions that Trubisky hasn’t been exposed to yet. Those instances have prompted Trubisky to talk through those situations with the veterans.
“He might have the same play two or three times (from) different formations … because you’re going to see it against five different coverages,” Daniel explained. “These are our bread-and-butter plays. So he’s starting to understand, learn it and get to the Football 202, 303. And not only does he have to know what he’s doing, he also has to know what 10 other guys are doing. We’re just growing into it as we go.”
What’s clear through these process-driven spring practices is that excitement about the new offense and realism about the years required for it to mature are not mutually exclusive.
The balance is achieved with a combination of trust in Nagy’s acumen and track record and a collective work ethic that doesn’t shy from the mistake-filled practice sessions that provide the lessons necessary for growth.
Nagy has set the tone for that with how he communicates with players and how he continues to tweak the offense based on what works in practice.
“What Matt has told the team is: Let’s take baby steps,” Daniel said. “We’re not going to try to run before we walk. We need the details of every little thing we do, and then we can add from there.
“We have to set a foundation. We have to set something all guys are comfortable with, and we’re going to rep the crap out of all these plays, all the protections, everything like that. Because if we don’t, we’ll never have a solid foundation to build off. When we get into preseason and Week 1, then we can start adding some more flavor.”
One pillar of that foundation is the partnership between Nagy and Trubisky, which still is forming.
“What’s he’s trying to do is understand how we as coaches want him to think,” Nagy said. “Right now, it’s: let’s test it downfield a little bit. If you’re going to make a mistake and make a poor throw, let’s do it with an aggressive mentality. It’s OK now to make mistakes. We learn from them, we get them on tape and pull back from them during the season and figure out why we made that mistake. Either we stay away from it, or we improve it.”
By now, with three practices remaining this spring, the Bears have done enough that their classroom sessions no longer require video examples of the Chiefs running plays. The Bears watch themselves.
That step in the instructions manual is worth mentioning, but it’s far from the final page showing the finished product. Nagy won’t skip ahead to that end point. In this case, the builder knows best.
rcampbell@chicagotribune.com
