I’m new to the board, I have been a bears fan my whole life and that won’t change.
I love talking Bears football, I fully recognize I could be wrong on every point, and I welcome an open discussion.
My thoughts on the state of the Bears are as follows
I don’t believe in Ted Philips or the McCaskeys and I think they are the reason the Bears have been consistently bad for as long as they have been. These two failed to produce any kind of sustained continuity and if you listen to them speak and see their actions, they don’t display any of the qualities I think good leaders possess. They are not transparent which to me shows that they don’t believe in themselves. When reporters ask the tough questions, McCaskey and Philips deflect and don’t take ownership of their mistakes. That aside I think their biggest short coming is their inability to evaluate, utilize, and develop other leaders within the organization.
Developing and utilizing talent is the name of the game, the teams that do this better, will always finish better. It sucks to say but Naggy has opportunities in both these areas. I like Naggy, I think he has the right attitude and I think the players play hard for him but he was brought in to make the offense productive and he hasn’t executed in that area.
Naggy failed to develop and utilize Trubisky, he also had major influence in the decision to bring in Foles and nothing good has come of that either. I realize that Foles and Trubisky don’t have the most talent between them but I do think a better coach would’ve produced better results with the pair.
In 2018 the Bears offense was successful running RPO plays. This is what Trubisky is better at and for some reason Naggy has gone farther away from that over the last two seasons. Naggy also doesn’t do a good job of getting the running backs consistently involved in the passing game, they should be running a low to high passing progression where the backs catch the ball in space. Trubisky is a threat with his legs, another talent Naggy failed to utilize. If you watch other mobile quarterbacks you will see plays and even whole packages designed around this talent. How many designed QB runs did the Bears use this year or even last year? It wasn’t many. Trubisky had over 400 yards rushing in 2018, in both 2019 and 2020 he had under 200. Some of this comes from the RPO but this equals 20 more first downs each year which is significant for an offense as bad as the Bears. 20 first downs would extend a few more drives throughout the season and probably put a few more points on the board. 20 first downs for an 8-8 team, who lost some close games, could be the difference between 9-7 or even 10-6. I’m not saying this one thing turns around the entire offense but it is a microcosm of what is going on within the entire offense.
Trubisky deserves his portion of the blame on this as well. There have been plenty of missed throws and bad reads and just bad play. But there is a reason McVay and Shanahan get their non-elite QBs to the Super Bowl, and it is because they are able utilize their QBs strengths, minimize their weaknesses.
Patterson’s mis-use is another example of mis-used talent. Why are they handing the ball off to him out of the backfield? It was so painfully obvious what was going to happen every time he was in the game and really tough to watch at times. A better coach is able to design plays to get Patterson in the open field instead of running dives into the middle of the line every single time.
Naggy was able to keep the team together during a brutal stretch of football this year, which is very commendable and speaks to how well he has the teams ear, but the offense was undoubtedly better when Lazor took over the play calling. The last thing I will say on Naggy is that I just don’t feel like the Bears are well coached from a game management standpoint. They give up way too many penalties and they burn more dumb time outs than a high school football team on week 1. Well coached teams do not have these issues.
Ryan Pace
Despite passing on Mahomes and Watson, I think he has done a decent job of drafting and I also give him credit for building a good defense. But there have been plenty of bad draft picks, the Foles move was always a head scratcher for me, and as a leader I feel he has the same issues as Philips and McCaskey. He deflects the tough questions about Trubisky and when I listen to him talk it just seems like a lot of words with nothing really being said.
Given what you’ve read to this point you can imagine that my outlook is not good, but I think we need to be realistic.
The Bears can be a better team than they were this year but for the reasons above I think they will struggle next year.
This will result in Naggy and Pace being replaced.
Under this scenario I think it wise if ownership not let Pace use assets/draft picks beyond this years draft.
As an owner I feel this is the right move for two reasons.
One, if Pace and Naggy succeed this year you can always extend them. Also who knows how long Pace is even signed for? Even though I don’t think they are great at what they do, if Pace and Naggy can show they can get better while being a little more successful each year, ultimately the continuity this creates is better than starting from scratch.
Two, if Naggy and Pace are not successful this year, by limiting Pace’s use of future draft picks, you give the new regime (or even Pace with a new coach) more assets to work with and better chance to be successful.
This means Wentz will not be a Bear this year. I think Wentz has talent but why would anyone believe Naggy is going to get the best out of him? If Naggy is gone next year, will the next coach want Wentz? Why would Wentz want the Bears? Not that he has any control, but the Colts have a much better O-line and team overall. I didn’t really like the way Wentz handled his benching this year and he does have some injury concerns. Any kind of back injury for an athlete it is always concerning, plus Wentz still hasn’t been able to nail down his mechanics. To me this seems very familiar to the Cutler move for the Bears, this time around it just comes with more desperation.
I’ve been hearing a lot of the talking heads out there say the Bears are a contender with Wentz. I don’t think those people see the O-line issues that I do, they don’t see Naggy’s inability to utilize talent, and they don’t see a defense that has been good but has also been on the decline the last two years.
I see the Bears biggest needs as: QB, O-line, WR, and D-line
I think easiest path to success this year is for the Bears to bring back Trubisky and let him and Foles go at it again.
I know that seems like a crazy thing to say but here me out.
It’s a good fit for Mitch and for the Bears, he knows the offense and the chance he has to start for the Bears is more than he will get anywhere else. If Bears can get him cheap, why not? The Bears will also be better able to address their other needs.
I think the continuity of this move has a huge upside as well.
Both QBs know the offense. It’s tough to learn and NFL offense and be good at running it in the first year. I hated Cutler, but the guy had to learn a new offense almost every year he was with the Bears, that has a negative effect whether people admit it or not.
The other upside to this move is the Foles affect. Trubisky and Foles have already proven they can work well together. If Foles plays and is better than he was last year behind an upgraded online, I think that is an easier path to success than bringing in a QB like Wentz this year, and also sets the Bears up better by having all their draft picks for next year.
Another idea I don’t mind is if the Bears roll with Foles and draft a QB in this years 2nd, 3rd or 4th round. I know the chances of getting a future starting QB that way are slim but this way the other needs still get addressed and maybe Pace will start drafting a QB every year like he said he would.
The Bears also need to tag Allen Robinson, if Pace somehow lets him get away this year, that will seal his fate. Robinson is another player that Naggy has failed to utilize to his strengths, but I could go up and down the roster on that.
Sorry to drag on.
I look forward to your thoughts.
Beau Down!
