CHICAGO, IL — For two years, I told Bears fans to shut their proverbial emotional faucet off for a second and wait for then-starter, and former first-round pick, QB Mitch Trubisky to be replaced properly.
Said it at sports bars, said it on social media, said it on the street. He wasn’t ever going to be a Hall-of-Famer, but they won with him under center, whether good or bad. The name of the game is winning, not making fans’ fantasy teams look sparkling.
Flaws notwithstanding, and he had them, he limited mistakes and kept the Bears in the game, more so in 2020 than 2018, but that is another subject for another day. Of course, most fans are incapable of patience.
Didn’t matter, he was a better QB (which is true), and wouldn’t make the same “mistakes” as Trubisky, which was funny because fans never paid attention when they always predicted Trubisky would have four interceptions or something (never happened, so they are liars)
What happened next was so obvious to anyone with a 40 IQ.
After the comeback in Atlanta, Nick Foles’ lack of mobility was so obvious in Nagy’s system that it took a week for Indianapolis to expose him. What most fans refuse to see is that it is so much more than the physical gifts in the NFL.
The system must fit the QB, and when the coach has numerous breakdowns in his system, which the prior QB could scramble away from, and the current QB could not, you can guess what happened next.
So long story short, Foles gets hurt, Trubisky comes back, Bears score lots of points, back into the playoffs, losing round 1, and the era ends.
That was the past. This is the now.
The Bears trade-up for Justin Fields caused Chicago sports fans to go into celebration mode, as they would be. I might have been the only one who was reserved. He’s the proper replacement at the position, but at that moment, he still had two terrible edge blockers that would get him killed.
Then night two happened and I celebrated. Teven Jenkins guaranteed Charles Leno’s demise. Then night three added another one. Now I am more than excited. Getting Jason Peters was a nice veteran touch, if he doesn’t have to deal with Myles Garrett one-on-one.
But one thing still enters my mind. Matt Nagy. He’s not a teacher. He doesn’t want to teach. He loved Chase Daniel because Daniel knew his system. He loved Foles because Foles knew his system. He kept Tyler Bray, the third-stringer because he knew the system. Between Daniel and Foles, Nagy won three games. His starter won 90 percent of Nagy’s career games, yet Nagy couldn’t stand him.
He protected Foles to the death, even when the Bears’ current offense historically collapsed because he liked him.
So, let me ask this question.
Is Nagy getting a blue-chip stud at QB going to stop him from doing sweeps with tight ends at the one-yard line? Is it going to help him scheme anyone open? Is he going to allow Fields to audible? The answer to all three is NO.
Nagy took back the play-calling even after it was proved his OC—Bill Lazor—was superior at it, compared to him. His OC has the book back, but for how long?
I wanted Fields to sit all 17 games to stay away from Nagy, but if he’s there, it is imperative to keep Nagy far away from calling games. The nine-sack debacle in Cleveland was proof of this, and so many other games were proof of this.
The alternative is Nagy ruining another QB, and make no mistake, this can happen.