I am writing this article as I am watching the Giants and Bears game and I’ll be honest, I think we can all agree that the 2019 Chicago Bears are a shell of themselves in comparison to last year when they finished the 2018 season with a record of 12-4 and a playoff appearance since 2010. It’s apparent that the team has had a number of issues all over the place. What are some of those issues though?
I’ll leave the major concerns and biggest frustrations for later, I’m going to start off with a problem that not a lot of people will admit right away; the defense.
When Vic Fangio left to become the Head Coach of the Denver Broncos, many were concerned that the vaunted monster defense would regress no matter who would be the next Defensive Coordinator, which ended up being former Ravens Defensive Secondary and Indianapolis Colts Head Coach, Chuck Pagano.
Has there been regression? Sure, a little bit. They’re not the number one defense in the league anymore and it shows. In some games this year, they’ve had trouble stopping the run and have been exposed to giving up big plays, which is always a risk in a Chuck Pagano defense. The difference between the 3-4 system that Vic Fangio runs and the 3-4 system that Chuck Pagano runs comes before the snap.
Vic Fangio utilizes coverage packages, meaning he disguises what coverage the defense is running. He’ll show you one coverage before the snap, and after the snap, it turns into a different coverage. For example, he may show you Cover 2 before the snap, but after the snap, the defense will go into a Cover 3. He also does not blitz often, although he’ll pick his spots to attack the opposing quarterback.
Chuck Pagano has a different philosophy and does the opposite. He’ll run blitz packages, meaning he’ll send a defender at the line of scrimmage, almost sending a message to the opposing offense, “Watch out, I’m attacking you this way.” After the snap, that defender will back out of the line of scrimmage and another defender comes in (which in theory should create more pressure and chaos in the backfield) while Pagano stands by the sideline saying “Sike!”
What’s nice about this defense is that Ryan Pace, Vic Fangio, and former Bears Head Coach, John Fox, did a great job at bringing in great players that are able to do different things, for the most part. With that said, I think everyone can say that the defense misses Akiem Hicks so much because he is the other player that demands attention from the opposing offense other than Khalil Mack, which I think is why the Bears pass rush has been missing for a majority of this season and Mack not being the game wrecker that the league is used to seeing. Danny Trevathan is also undoubtedly the leader of the defense, so obviously the defense is missing him as well. I will say, Nick Kwiatkowski has filled in nicely in Trevathan’s place.
The defense also cannot avoid pretty much playing the whole game, which causes them to become gassed/tired by the middle of the game, because they either cannot generate turnovers with ease like last year, or the offense has not helped them out much.
Speaking of which, the Bears and especially the fans came into this season with high expectations for the offense and more so for Mitchell Trubisky. The consensus of any rebuilding team in the NFL with playoff aspirations is that a young quarterback is expected to show improvement or even have an MVP worthy season by their 2nd or 3rd year in the league. It’s happened with guys like Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, and Patrick Mahomes, and most recently Lamar Jackson who looks like the second coming of Michael Vick.
That has not been the case for Trubisky this season. In fact, it looks pretty obvious that either he has regressed or has not made any type of improvements. He still doesn’t go through his progressions properly, messy mechanics, misses open receivers (both mentally and literally), and the biggest issue being putting the ball where it’s supposed to be. He either underthrows or overthrows the ball. To be fair, he also hasn’t gotten much help throughout the season.
In my opinion, the second biggest problem the offense has had is the regression of the offensive line. This offensive line cannot go through a game without letting multiple sacks happen or letting pressure get to Trubisky’s face. My biggest issue with how the offensive line has played is in the running game. This offense is designed to open up running lanes with ease no matter what type of running back you are, whether it be Tarik Cohen, David Montgomery, Mike Davis, and even Jordan Howard before he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in the offseason. The offensive line simply just cannot open those running lanes. It’s been so bad that I don’t think even running backs like Saquan Barkley, Le’Veon Bell, Alvin Kamara, or even Ezekiel Elliott could make something happen back there. Yes, it’s been that bad.
I’ll now take this opportunity to say something about the play calling. Can it be better? Obviously; I agree with that statement. Where I disagree is that Matt Nagy should be fired for it. I don’t think he should be fired for a few reasons.
1. While a lot of the play calls in hindsight look like they didn’t make sense in certain situations, you have to consider that coaches can only do so much to put teams in the best position to succeed. The coaches call the plays, but the players are the ones that have to execute those plays. Nagy expects the offense to execute the plays he calls to perfection.
2. If the Bears were to somehow move on from Trubisky, you have to let him evaluate what quarterbacks he wants to bring in to Chicago. Trubisky was picked solely by Ryan Pace and the offensive staff that John Fox put together. If you want to make the argument that the Bears could’ve had Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson, keep in mind that when Matt Nagy was with the Kansas City Chiefs, they opted out of Deshaun Watson and went with Mahomes. That tells me that Andy Reid and his staff (which again, included Matt Nagy) saw something special in Mahomes. Could he do the same thing with Bears? I’ll let you decide on that.
Overall, I think that if the NFC was not as stacked as it is right now, the Bears would still have a shot at the playoffs as a Wild Card. Currently, they’re still in the hunt at 6-6 with 4 games left to play and the next game being against the Cowboys. Only time will tell if this Chicago Bears team can get it together and rise up to start a dynasty (especially when they have a great defense), or if they were a one year wonder.
