Did the Bears Actually Change Quarterbacks?

Any reasonable Bears’ fan had to be skeptical of the 3-0 start and were watching this Sunday’s game just to see what the Bears really are. The answer, a team that gotten some breaks and could easily be 0-4 instead of 3-1. Head coach Matt Nagy made the QB change and got the guy he wanted, Nick Foles, but if you watched the game nothing changed. In fact, the offense looked like it did last year.

The trade for Foles will always deserve criticism because Jacksonville was not going to keep Foles and Chicago traded a 4th round pick, outbidding themselves. What would the Bears look like if they signed Cam Newton for next to nothing? The reasoning for the trade was Foles knows the offense and should be able to take the helm and be an improvement. Don’t get me wrong, Foles is not an All-Pro but the Colts game showed maybe it’s not just the guy under center that’s the problem.

All reports from former players and professionals are Matt Nagy is extremely clever and the type of offensive coach that can elevate his team. Where is it? Was it all just smoke and mirrors that first playoff birth season? The offense looked exactly like it did last year despite the QB change and was putrid at home in an ugly game.

The Bears were 3-0 against bad teams, combined 1-11 for the season, so the quality of team on the other side was a big step up but Nagy helped the Indy defense. In the first three games Chicago rushed 85 times for 414 yards, good for 4.87 yards per carry. The rushing attack was averaging 138 yards per game but Nagy only called 16 rushes against the Colts. The team only totaled 28 yards, an awful 1.8 yards per carry, but Nagy has to be better.

Again, the Colts defense is immensely better than any other team the Bears have faced, and Tarik Cohen was lost for the season against Atlanta, but if the coach is clever he ought to be able to figure something out. Nagy’s comments painted a picture of being unhappy with how the offense had to run to suit Trubisky but I’d take that over what I saw against Indy. 13 carries for the backs versus 42 pass attempts for Foles? The Bears offense isn’t good enough to operate that way.

Nagy ran the pass happy offense last year to awful results and with ‘his guy’ apparently is going to pass, pass and pass some more. No running back is going to get in the flow of the game with ten rushes and apparently Nagy forgot David Montgomery was on the team, despite averaging over 14 rushes and two catches a game coming in. Not far off his average admittedly, but Nagy needs to realize what his team needs to win and that’s not 40+ throws a game.

Can we be done with the Cordarrelle Patterson running back experiment? He has 18 rushes for 62 yards on the season and is taking carries from better players, namely Montgomery. Patterson isn’t a big play back and my last memories of him will be getting stuffed on 4th down as the coach has gotten too cute trying to outsmart everyone with something that isn’t working. In a league where backs can be pulled from anywhere and produce Chicago can’t find someone better than Patterson as a change of pace?

The defense gave up an opening drive TD but put together it’s first complete game, holding Indianapolis to 19 points despite the offense regularly putting them quickly back on the field. Nagy responded with only three points until garbage time, that should never happen. Any optimism we had as fans has found itself where it normally is for Chicago, gone and making you question why you even believed things would be different.

The running game will apparently succeed in spite of its coach in Chicago, as Nagy would rather approach 50 throws a game instead of 30 carries. I’m not saying Montgomery is a stud, but he can produce when given the chance. Instead Nagy put the ball in his journeyman QB and watched balls repeatedly hit the turf. Great coaches adjust to their players’ strengths but it seems Nagy will be damned if his system doesn’t work, that’s what he’s going to run and Chicago will only beat bad teams because of it.