It’s early, but ... Nagy and the Bears have bigger issues than just managing the Andy Dalton-Justin Fields situation. They need an offense that will give either quarterback a chance to succeed.
As Mitch Trubisky struggled to sustain success with the Bears, most fans wrote him off as a mis-evaluated draft pick. But there was a faction of supporters who blamed Matt Nagy and his offense as the culprit — claiming poor offensive design and development dragged Trubisky down to the bust level.
The league weighed in on that matter in free agency when no team would even give Trubisky a chance to compete for a starting job. Not one NFL team thought, ‘There’s a diamond-in-the-rough that Matt Nagy screwed up. We’ll make a quarterback out of him.’ Instead, Trubisky went straight from quarterback-of-the-future to the retread bin.
But the Bears’ putrid offensive performance against the Bills in their second preseason game — especially reflected against Trubisky’s excellent performance — shed a different light on the situation. With Andy Dalton at quarterback, the Bears opened the game with four consecutive three-and-outs — 37 net yards on 12 plays — before Dalton threw a 73-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Adams after the Bears fell behind 28-0.
Sure, it’s only the preseason. The Bears’ offense was missing key starters, including wide receiver Allen Robinson, running back David Montgomery, right guard James Daniels and tight end Cole Kmet. But the Bills also were missing key starters — quarterback Josh Allen and receivers Stefon Diggs, Emmanuel Sanders and Cole Beasley among them. And they still scored 34 first-half points against the Bears’ defense.
Why can’t the Bears do that? It’s not because of the quarterback. It’s because of the offense. With three weeks before the Sept. 12 opener against the Rams, the focus is not on Matt Nagy picking the right quarterback, but Matt Nagy producing an offense that either one of them can succeed in. Justin Fields taking over a bad offense — whenever it happens — is likely to produce more hope than success.
At this point, there is more confidence that Fields can make a coach out of Nagy than Nagy can make a quarterback out of Fields. Last week, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was asked what he wanted the offense to establish against the Bills. “I’d like to see us be able early in the game to run the ball for first downs,” Lazor said.
The Bears rushed five times for eight yards in the first half. It’s hard to tell which is the greater indictment — the eight yards or the five carries.
That’s not the only red flag. The scat protection issue that led to Fields getting crushed by Bills blitzing linebacker Andre Smith and could have been devastating was a familiar offensive failure. It happened against the Rams last year when Nick Foles, facing a free blitzer, threw an incomplete pass to Darnell Mooney.
Foles could have hit the “hot” receiver — Robinson. Or, with a split-second more time, could have led Mooney — who was about to burn Jalen Ramsey with a double move — for a 95-yard touchdown pass. Instead it was an incompletion.
This time it was a rookie quarterback. That time it was a veteran quarterback being too aggressive in a moment of extreme decision. It’s the Bears offense under Nagy in a nutshell: There’s always something. Nagy has three weeks to get it together — and give either quarterback a chance to succeed. At this point it doesn’t matter which one.
2. Speaking of red flags … with less than three weeks before the opener, the Bears have three players competing for the starting left tackle job. And each one is a major question mark:
Nine-time Pro Bowl tackle Jason Peters is a likely Hall of Fame player, but is 39, missed the last half of last season with a foot injury and was unsigned until the Bears called in desperation. Veteran Elijah Wilkinson has 26 NFL starts, but none at left tackle. He’s played right guard and right tackle in the NFL. Rookie Larry Borom had one start at left tackle at Missouri.
3. Peters is expected to be the Week 1 starter, but don’t discount Borom eventually becoming the starter. The Bears had Borom rated much closer to second-round pick Teven Jenkins than most teams — for whatever that’s worth.
“They’re both athletic. They’re both smart. They both work hard,” offensive line coach Juan Castillo said. “So not there’s a chance that [Borom] could catch up just because he’s blessed with a god-given ability. … We’re not talking about just a solid player. We’re talking about being a good player, to maybe even better — a Pro Bowl-type player.”
4. You can’t blame the Bears for wanting to upgrade at left tackle, but they might miss veteran Charles Leno more than they thought. Since cutting Leno — who played 6,201-of-6,209 snaps in 95 consecutive starts since 2015 — the Bears have had six players start at left tackle with the first-team offensive line: Arlington Hambright, Wilkinson, Borom, Alex Bars, Jenkins and Peters.
5. Trubisky was classy as usual after a triumphant return to Soldier Field. He passed on several opportunities to express even the slightest indignation about his Bears career, saying only that he was happier in Buffalo and comfortable with new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.
“It’s been awesome — just learning from coach Daboll and executing his offense,” Trubisky said. “I feel like every time he calls a play it’s going to work. And you have to give credit to the other 10 guys on the field with me. Everyone’s doing their job.
“I just feel comfortable and continue to grow and learn in this offense. It’s been a lot of fun working with coach Daboll. I’ve got a lot of trust and faith in him.”
6. Though Dalton needs work with the first-team offense, it might be time for the Bears to switch from the Patrick Mahomes template to the Russell Wilson template in the preseason.
When Wilson was a rookie in 2012, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll — intrigued by Wilson’s performances as a back-up — started Wilson with his starters, against the Chiefs starters in the third preseason game. Wilson was stellar again — two touchdown passes and a 134.8 passer rating — and the rest is history.
Even if Dalton is the Week 1 starter, Fields has shown enough in the first two preseason games to warrant that same look — because you never know.
7. The traditional “dress rehearsal” third preseason game is a thing of the past, so the Bears’ offense probably won’t face much of the Titans’ first-string defense if at all Saturday. But it’ll still be a test. The Titans have been coasting into the season — resting many starters, especially on offense — and have beaten the Falcons 23-3 and the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers 34-3.
Former Bears quarterback Matt Barkley, batting Logan Woodside for the back-up job to Ryan Tannehill, has been red-hot — 17-for-24 for 169 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 130.0 passer rating.
8. What, me worry? The Bears’ 41-15 loss to the Bills was their largest margin-of-defeat in the preseason since a 34-6 loss to the Seahawks in 2014. With offensive and defensive starters playing the entire first half, the Bears trailed 31-0. The Bears went 5-11 in Marc Trestman’s second season and cleaned house.
9. Josh McCown Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Duh. Trubisky completed 20-of-28 passes for 221 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a 106.4 passer rating. He also scrambled for an 11-yard gain for a first down. His longest pass play was 26 yards to tight end Jacob Hollister. But the Bills scored five times on his five first-half drives — four touchdowns and a field goal.
Barkley was in the running. He completed 12-of-16 passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns for a 134.1 rating in the Titans’ rout of the Buccaneers.
10. Bear-ometer: 7-10 — at Rams (L); vs. Bengals (W); at Browns (L); vs. Lions (W); at Raiders (L); vs. Packers (L); at Buccaneers (L); vs. 49ers (L); at Steelers (L); vs. Ravens (L); at Lions (L); vs. Cardinals (W); at Packers (L); vs. Vikings (W); at Seahawks (W); vs. Giants (W); at Vikings (W).
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