Before we dive into the Bears' offseason questions, here are our takeaways from Sunday's postseason loss vs. Saints.
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This is where the game officially turned in my eyes. With 1:49 left on the clock, the Bears decided to run the ball with running back
David Montgomery, getting five yards and causing the Saints to burn a timeout. The play call worked well since you gained yards and still stopped the clock, knowing the Saints could not use another timeout if they got the ball back prior to time expiring. The Bears now could dictate pace and mount a sustained drive that, at the very least, would result in a field goal to cut the deficit to 7-6. Instead, head coach Matt Nagy opted to call another run play to Montgomery that resulted in a three-yard gain. They let the clock run instead of rushing to the line and calling a play, then called a run-pass option (RPO) that saw backup running back Ryan Nall run into a wall for no gain, resulting in a fourth down. The Bears punted to end the half. This was the moment to turn the tides and make a game out of it. The Bears had plenty of time and timeouts to work with and didn't attempt one pass and let the clock run. What's worse is using your fourth string running back in a playoff game instead of Montgomery or even Cordarrelle Patterson. Nagy played scared and clearly didn't trust quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, or his offense as a whole for that matter, to drive down the field and score points in a two-minute situation