Dick Butkus is a Chicago Bears lifer. He gave his heart and soul to that organization. So he feels it when they struggle. Nothing is more certain to get him agitated when having to talk about the offense. It truly feels like that side of the ball has been terrible since even before Butkus himself got there in 1965. During his career, the team had a top-ranked offense once. That was his rookie season. Since then it’s been almost one continuous string of bad.
A big part of why that is? The quarterback position. I’d list the number of starting QBs the Bears have put forward since 1965 but that would take way too much time and bring about too much pain. Suffice to say there were many. Most of them pretty bad. From Bobby Douglass to Bob Avellini through Jim McMahon, Jim Harbaugh, Erik Kramer, Rex Grossman, Jay Cutler, and finally Mitch Trubisky. None of them were able to change the team’s fortunes.
Is Justin Fields different?
Butkus’ answer may shock a lot of people. He appeared on the Stack The Box podcast with insiders Matt Verderame and Mark Carman to discuss the Bears, his career, and his efforts to help improve the treatment of retired players. When asked about the young quarterback, the Hall of Famer didn’t blink. He thinks Chicago finally has the right guy, saying so not once but twice.
From his point of view, the problems on offense lay elsewhere.
Namely, the poor blocking from the offensive line and the unimaginative scheme Fields has to play in. Two things fans and experts have harped on all season. Since taking over the starting job in Week 3, Fields has been sacked 27 times across seven games. It would be easy to say a lot of those are his fault because he’s a rookie but that just isn’t the case. While he has some responsibility, the fact is the protection hasn’t been good enough. Not nearly good enough.
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Dick Butkus is seeking drastic changes up top for the Bears
When it comes to Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace? The legend seems unimpressed. With Nagy for his rather bland and easy to predict offense and Pace for his inability to build a strong enough supporting cast to help Fields perform. Both are valid criticisms and a big reason why many feel the two men are on the hot seat. With the Bears sitting at 3-6, there is a strong chance the team has its first losing record since 2017. A year after reaching the playoffs.
The offense is second-worst in the NFL despite having a top 10 rushing attack. How is that even possible? All one can say is Nagy just doesn’t have the answers for how to take advantage. Everything about how he’s operated since drafting Fields has been wrong. Not giving him any reps with the #1 offense in training camp. Refusing to alter the scheme to fits his abilities after Andy Dalton was injured. Just one head-scratching decision after another. Dick Butkus is right there with fans.
This can’t continue.
Unless something changes in the next eight games, he’ll get his wish. Either the offense has to drastically improve or the team must rebound to reach the playoffs. Neither prospect looks promising. Pace and Nagy still have their defenders, but the reality is both have made too many mistakes to be afforded contract extensions. Something that would be required for them to return in 2022.
