Chicago Bears coaching staff no longer runs the offense that Trubisky fits
There was a major reason that Trubisky was selected by the Bears back in April. It was scheme fit. His style of play was ideal for what offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains liked to do. At least according to what people saw in 2016. One thing that was evident throughout the season was Loggains enjoyed running a majority of his offensive plays out of the shotgun formation.
This was something Trubisky did almost exclusively at North Carolina and he was quite good at it. Loggains liked a quarterback who could operate from that formation and deliver pinpoint accurate passes. Yet based on recent stats he has suddenly up and changed everything. According to NFLsavant.com, the Bears are not running from shotgun even half as much as they were last year.
2016:
- 489 plays under center
- 651 plays from shotgun
2017:
- 259 plays under center
- 188 plays from shotgun
Worse still whenever they do go from shotgun, they exclusively are throwing the football. They rarely if ever run it. Another big difference from last year. What makes it especially puzzling is that Jordan Howard was quite good at running out of that and the similar pistol formation.
The duty of any coaching staff with a rookie quarterback is to run an offense that he’s comfortable with. At the same time they can sprinkle in plays he may not like but will help him learn. Instead it appears like the Bears have chosen to thrust Trubisky into a traditional under-center offense. Something he had zero knowledge of when he arrived in May.
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He looks uncomfortable, out of sync and even lost at times. The Bears fail consistently to get him in rhythm with easy completions. They’ve also been appallingly predictable in their play calling based on situation. Here’s a breakdown of their run-pass ratios according to down.
- Run 1st – 103
- Pass 1st – 41
- Run 2nd – 65
- Pass 2nd – 37
- Run 3rd – 14
- Pass 3rd – 40
In other words teams know the Bears are far more likely to run on first and second down and far more likely to throw on third down. There is zero creativity and it’s a big reason the team has had 22 of 69 drives end three-and-out this season prior to this Sunday. That number now stands at 27 of 78. It’s not good and something has to change.
