All eyes will be on the Chicago Bears’ offense when the team hosts the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Soldier Field. Through the first three games of this season, the Bears have only generated four touchdowns and rank last in many offensive categories. The lack of production early in the 2021 season is extremely alarming given the talent level Chicago has on offense.

Justin Tucker’s NFL record setting Field Goal was 19 more yards than the Chicago Bears had total offense

— Vinnie Parise (@VinnieParise) September 27, 2021

Too Many Offensive Players Have A Proven Career Of Success

Most attention this season has focused on the Bears’ quarterback position, as Andy Dalton and rookie Justin Fields have started for the team. Dalton is a proven quarterback as he has been named to three Pro Bowls and led the Cincinnati Bengals to five playoff appearances. The former Pro Bowl quarterback has had four seasons of 25 touchdown passes or more and has passed for over 3,500 yards in three seasons. Fields was the best quarterback in the Big 10 Conference for the previous two years and has played for two Top 5 college teams in Georgia and Ohio State.

The running back position is extremely vital as the Bears have three running backs that are versatile threats as they can make a difference in both the running and passing game. David Montgomery, Damien Williams, and Tarik Cohen have proven throughout their careers they can make big plays. Montgomery last season rushed for over 1,000 yards while recording 48 receptions. Cohen, although still recovering from a season-ending knee injury from 2020, is one of the most explosive players in the NFL. The fifth-year running back has had several games with a reception of 30 yards or more with a rushing attempt of 20 yards or longer.

At wide receiver, Allen Robinson is one of the best wide receivers in Bears’ history, as he has two consecutive seasons of 1,000 receiving yards. Darnell Mooney set a franchise record for most catches by a rookie with 61 receptions. Chicago’s third receiver, Marquise Goodwin, is just four seasons removed from being the San Francisco 49ers’ number one receiver as he recorded 965 receiving yards in 2017.

Highest-graded WRs in contested catch situations in 2020

1. Kenny Golladay – 96.6
2. Davante Adams – 91.8
3. Keenan Allen – 91.5
4. Allen Robinson – 91.0 pic.twitter.com/kU2ANhj5G1

— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) March 25, 2021

The position that has had the most recent success for the Bears offense has been the tight end position. Cole Kmet and Jimmy Graham combined for 11 touchdown receptions last season and caught 78 passes in 2020. Graham’s presence was massive as he caught seven of his eight touchdowns in red-zone situations. Kmet came on strong towards the end of last season, recording 20 receptions in the team’s final five games.

Given all of the success from all of these players, all have failed yet to produce any success in 2021. Dalton has only one touchdown through six quarters of football, while his longest pass completion has been for 17 yards. Fans and the media were unable to get an idea of where Fields is at from a growth standpoint as he was sacked nine times by the Cleveland Browns last week.

#Bears WR Darnell Mooney

Gets a boost here if rookie Justin Fields starts at QB.

Deep crossers/over routes off play-action (below). Flood concepts. Quicks/screens.

Mooney in Week 2 = 66 yards receiving — on 6-of-8 targets. @NFLMatchup pic.twitter.com/2aQG1rTBtA

— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) September 21, 2021

Montgomery, although he rushed for over 100 yards against the Los Angeles Rams in week one, has only recorded 95 yards yard in the last two games. Furthermore, the Bears’ starting running back only has six receptions through the first three weeks of the season. Williams failed to record a rushing attempt or reception against the Browns.

The wide receiver and tight end position have struggled to make an impact play as the Bears are still without a pass reception longer than 25 yards. Between Mooney, Robinson, and Goodwin, the three receivers only have one reception longer than 20 yards. Kmet and Graham have only eight receptions this season for the Bears, with no touchdown receptions or receptions longer than 15 yards.

Cole Kmet was the #Bears lowest-graded player on offense, per PFF, in Week 3 vs. Browns. He has yet to emerge as the 'Baby Gronk' some analysts suggested he'd be. Sure, it's early. But Chicago needs its core of young players to develop and step up. Pressure's on.

— Bryan Perez (@BryanPerezNFL) September 27, 2021

Bill Lazor’s Play-Calling Could Help To Unlock The Struggling Talent

Following the 26-6 loss to the Browns, head coach Matt Nagy said that giving up play-calling duties was on the table. Last season, Nagy gave up play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor in week 11. In Chicago’s final six games of the season, the offense scored 25 points or more in five of the six games. Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky had a quarterback rating of 97 or higher in four consecutive games.

If Matt Nagy did hand over play calling to Bill Lazor, then Nagy's ego is out of control by not announcing it.

If Nagy elected to keep himself as the play caller, then his ego is out of control for not recognizing a change is needed to get the #Bears offense on track. https://t.co/BB4UvqmoJj

— Lester A. Wiltfong Jr. (@wiltfongjr) September 29, 2021

One of the biggest reasons why the Bears’ offense improved with Lazor calling plays was due in part to the success of the running game. Montgomery rushed for over 598 yards in the final six games and recorded seven rushing touchdowns. Lazor also made it a point to involve the running back in the passing game as the second-year running back caught 24 passes in the six-game span.

Lazor was also able to get more production from the Bears’ wide receivers in the remaining games of 2020. Mooney caught touchdown passes in back-to-back weeks and had four games of four receptions or more. Robinson, who was consistently being double-teamed by opposing defenses throughout the majority of 2020, was able to record 29 receptions in a four-game span, including two 100 yard receiving games. Many routes both Mooney and Robinson were getting open on were while in motion, where under Nagy, they were catching passes on stationary routes.

Credit to the Bears’ blocking on Darnell Mooney’s touchdown. Anthony Miller took his matchup out of the play. Allen Robinson drove Keion Crossen eight yards and nearly into the end zone. pic.twitter.com/EbJhuZ3PkX

— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) December 13, 2020

The interim play-caller for the remaining games of last season was able to utilize both tight ends. Graham and Kmet caught touchdowns in the final month of the season as the rookie tight end was featured more to help free up the former All-Pro tight end in the red zone. Graham caught three of his eight touchdowns in three of the final five games of the season.

It is apparent that something is off with the schematics of the Bears’ offense and not with their talent level. Each of their key offensive players excelled mightily in providing production. Nagy’s play design and execution have been heavily criticized through the first three games of the season, with little attention being paid to the Chicago players’ talent ability. Sunday’s game against the Lions could be the first time this season that play-calling is changed to allow Chicago’s offensive stars to succeed.