Matt Nagy has said multiple times one of the key factors of making the Chicago Bears successful in 2020 is self-evaluation. Figure out where he went wrong last season. What mistakes did he make? While this is the right way to think, it’s hard to discern whether Nagy has reached the necessary conclusions. Former quarterback Chris Simms just doesn’t know how to feel about the Bears.
They are one of the biggest wild cards of this season in his mind and Nagy is the reason why. During a discussion with Mike Florio on Pro Football Talk, he pointed out that a big reason the Bears flopped last year was the team had no identity. It was like they were trying to be one team on offense and another on defense. The two units failed to complement each other.
In essence, Simms believes Nagy is still trying to mimic Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite knowing he has neither Patrick Mahomes nor the many weapons that team has. He does, however, have a dominant defense. So his goal should be implementing a scheme that best assists it.
That being a strong, consistent running game with big plays off play action.
“The Bears got to find an identity as a football team. Last year was like they were trying to be the Kansas City Chiefs on offense but the ’85 Bears on defense and that’s not cohesive to making a team or winning football games. Especially on the offensive side of the ball…
…You don’t have Patrick Mahomes and some of the weapons. It’s not going to happen. But what you do have is a borderline Super Bowl-caliber defense. So play through that and I think that’s where they really messed up last year.”
Matt Nagy is learning a lesson every head coach goes through
It’s hardly a secret that Nagy is close to Reid. The man gave him his big break in the NFL. Nagy views him as his mentor and now has watched that system he was once part of go on to win a Super Bowl. So it makes logical sense he’d want to do everything in his power to copy it in Chicago. Why? Simple. It works. It worked in Philadelphia and it worked in Kansas City. Why isn’t it working in Chicago?
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The answer is obvious. He doesn’t have what those teams do. Namely a good quarterback. Maybe that changes with the arrival of Nick Foles but right now it’s just reality. If Nagy wants to win, he must do everything in his power to accentuate what his team is best at. That’s playing defense. It may hurt being Reid’s disciple and a former quarterback himself. Still, it’s his responsibility as the head coach.
His job isn’t to be like Reid. It’s to do whatever must be done to win football games.