Few men can better understand how Matt Nagy will help the Chicago Bears offense better than a quarterback. Nagy himself is a former quarterback. He runs the offense through that position. Why? Well aside from it being the most important in professional sports, Nagy would want to stick to what he knows best. So any current or former NFL QB would instantly see the benefits of his system.
Dan Orlovsky is one of those men. Most people remember him for his memorable gaffe years ago. He ran out the back of the end zone as a member of the Detroit Lions when evading pressure. It’s a moment he still hasn’t lived down. That said Orlovsky played in the NFL for eight years. He won four games as a starter and threw 15 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.
He was never a star but history shows he had some competence playing the position. He knows what good quarterback offenses are supposed to look like. That’s why it was interesting to hear his assessment on the best offensive minds in the NFL.
Matt Nagy is among the elite at designing offensive plays
Orlovsky appeared on the MMQB podcast with Peter King to talk about the upcoming draft. They mostly discussed the top quarterbacks available. However, towards the end, King shifted the conversation to whom the former QB though were the best play callers in the league. Orlovsky had plenty to say and ended it with a huge tip of the cap to Nagy.
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“Nowadays, these coordinators that are really good? They’re really good at gameplan and design or giving their quarterbacks information before the snap. They’re taking guys like Gronkowski and Ertz, Kelce and they’re putting them at different positions so the defense then has to declare what they’re doing. They have to tell the quarterback before the snap what they’re doing.
And then if you cut the field in half, and then you say ‘Hey, if they’re in man-to-man-‘ which you’re going to get now before the snap, ‘-you work this side. If they’re in zone, you work that side.’ That expedites your process by seconds, it really does at the quarterback position.
So I think those guys, you know McVay and Josh McDaniels and Andy Reid’s still up there. I think Nagy’s going to be really good in Chicago. I think those are those guys that it’s not necessarily the play calling that is so impressive right now, it’s the play design.”
The Nagy offense was masterful at scripting plays
Throughout most of his run as offensive coordinator in Kansas City, Nagy was tasked with crafting game plans. He didn’t actually call plays. So it would make sense he’d excel at this particular job. It was his primary focus for almost two years. One thing that stood out? His offenses got off to strong starts. In 2017 the Chiefs scored 19 touchdowns in the first half of games vs. 19 in the second half.
The Bears offense in 2017 scored just 10 touchdowns in the first half vs. 14 in the second. Slow starts were a killer for them all year.
Nagy knows the NFL is all about situations. If you can prepare your quarterback to have an answer for any situation, you’re halfway to victory already. Then it’s just about getting everybody to execute properly. That takes preparation, discipline, and motivation. If Nagy can offer all that, this team is going to win a lot of games.
