He may not have addressed it directly at their end-of-year press conference, but head coach Matt Nagy seemed hesitant to discuss anything regarding his staff. That sent a crystal clear signal that changes of some kind were coming. Hardly a surprise when the team finishes 8-8 in a season with Super Bowl aspirations. It also wasn’t a shock when the majority of those changes came on the offensive side of the ball. The unit finished 29th in both scoring and total yards for the season. One of its worst in franchise history, which is saying a lot.
No fewer than three assistants were handed their walking papers: offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, tight ends coach Kevin Gilbride, and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. Gilbride wasn’t a big surprise given nobody in his position group managed to top 100 yards receiving for 2019. Helfrich was also expected given his failed influences on the scheme which included an over-fascination with screen passes. The biggest surprise though was Hiestand, a man with years of experience and a proven track record of success.
According to Adam Jahns of The Athletic, his and Helfrich’s exit was attributed to one particular failure that constantly held the team back all year.
“The Bears are sticking with quarterback Mitch Trubisky for the 2020 season, but moving on from offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand.
So what gives?
The decision is likely rooted in the Bears’ running game. It’s my understanding that Helfrich and Hiestand were in charge of it.
The Bears had the 27th-ranked run offense this season, gaining 1,458 yards on 395 carries. Last season, the Bears had the 11th-best running attack, but their statistics were skewed by Trubisky’s success as a scrambler.”
Matt Nagy knows he can’t win without running the ball
People got on Nagy constantly this season for not running the ball enough. The reality was the head coach likely chose to do it less often because it simply wasn’t working. Too often a back like David Montgomery or Tarik Cohen were met in the backfield by defenders before they even reached the line of scrimmage. The Bears finished 27th in rushing this year, topping 100 yards in a game just five times. When a team has a quarterback who is struggling, this sort of issue can often sink an offense as everybody saw.
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Last season wasn’t much better. Running backs averaged just 3.74 yards per carry in 2018 as well. So this problem has been fairly consistent since Nagy arrived and now with his job on the line going into 2020, he seems dead set on fixing it. One must believe his next hires at offensive coordinator and offensive line coach will be geared towards finding guys who have expertise in coaching up the running game. Not necessarily a bad plan since his own experience centers around the quarterback.
