Olin Kreutz is a diehard lover of the Chicago Bears. That shouldn’t be a surprise. He gave his heart and soul to the franchise for over a decade as one of their best-ever centers. So it clearly pains him when watching the offense struggle as it did quite often in 2019. Nothing pained him more it seems than watching them run the ball so miserably.
That should not happen. Running the ball is a staple of Bears football. It’s supposed to be in their offensive DNA. Finishing 27th in the NFL on the ground is unacceptable. While people have tried to point fingers in different directions like the backs or the offensive line, Kreutz thinks the problem go higher.
During an interview with the Hoge & Jahns podcast, he was asked about why Matt Nagy felt compelled to replace offensive line coach Harry Hiestand with newcomer Juan Castillo. Is it a matter of speaking the same language on scheme. In the midst of answering that question, Kreutz delivered quite a scathing rebuke the Bears head coach when it comes to understanding how to establish an identity.
“Part of me wonders if Coach Nagy knows what the run scheme in his offense really is. Or does he always have to count on somebody else to craft a run scheme in his offense? Then what are you totally committed to? The really good teams that run the ball, they commit to something early in the offseason…which is another problem this year. There is not an offseason. So these young guys are going to have a problem. What are they committed to this year? I don’t know.”
Kreutz went on to explain what he means.
He pointed out how the Bears running game always seemed to work best when Mitch Trubisky was under center and they ran I-formation style. It worked in the win over Denver and against the Chargers as well. Any time the Bears embraced style of offense, typically by around the 3rd quarter? It seemed to start working. Yet Nagy never fully embraced it.
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“I think some of what happened last year and some of what’s happening with this offense is someone should ask Coach Nagy what is…not what is the offensive linemen coach bringing to your scheme. The question for you, coach, is what is the run scheme in your offense? Because he should know that answer.”
The good news is Nagy agrees with Olin Kreutz
Kreutz is not wrong. This was a criticism of Nagy going back to early last season. It felt like he was never sure what he wanted the Bears offense to be. One week he’d embrace running the ball and the next he’d hand it off just eight times for the entire game. It is hard to run a consistent offense like that. The best part about this is it’s something the coach already knows. He openly admitted to it back in February.
“As we go through this offseason here, we need to figure out offensively what is our identity. I think more specifically, too, in the run game. We struggled there. So, we got to figure out what our identity is and that’s going to be an objective for us. And then last year you heard me say sometimes it takes five or six weeks. I feel like,, personally, that’s always the case but there’s a sense of urgency for us going into this year. It needs to happen sooner.”
So at least he understands what the problem is. Whether he can somehow find and establish that identity in an offseason ruined by COVID-19? That is an entirely different issue. Then again that is why Nagy gets paid the big bucks. He has no room for excuses now. His job is on the line. He’ll have to deliver.
