Chicago Bears’ Issues Run Deeper Than Mitchell Trubisky

There’s not a whole lot to say at this point. The Chicago Bears’ season is over and when things are going bad, everything is always amplified. People start looking for answers as to what is going wrong with their favorite team and start picking everything apart. 

For the Chicago Bears, to go from a division-winning season in 2018, to a bottom-feeding team, is as puzzling of a situation as any around the National Football League. It’s not a secret that Mitchell Trubisky has struggled this season. He’s inaccurate. His decision making is bad. He doesn’t get rid of the ball quick enough. The list goes on. But he’s shown flashes. He’s not THAT bad and it’s becoming abundantly clear that this disastrous season doesn’t rest solely on Mitch’s shoulders.

The Bears Still Don’t Have A Kicker

Last night, a huge issue that haunted the Bears all off-season, came back to bite them in the ass. It had been brewing for a couple weeks, but it seems like we’re back to square one. The Bears still don’t have a kicker. BUT they do have a special teams unit that loves dancing:

https://twitter.com/barstoolchicago/status/1195469635967225868?s=20

*Narrator: They missed a kick*

Two actually since this video was taken. Maybe you should stick to focusing on kicking boys. In the game against the Rams, Eddy Pineiro missed his first kick after the offense FINALLY got something going on the first drive. A 48-yarder. The Bears immediately got the ball back from a fumble, and Nagy decided to pass up another 48-yard attempt. This drive ended in a turnover on downs. On the next drive for the Rams, the Bears’ defense got a pick and saved the offense again. The drive ultimately stalled out and Nagy decided to have Eddy kick a 47-yarder. Missed wide right. Nagy basically iced his kicker. Another strange call from him this season, which leads me to…

Nagy’s Play-calling

This is a broken record at this point. Once again Nagy had some more questionable play calling. It’s been a common, consistent issue and there are plenty of examples, but there were a few specific examples in the game against the Rams I want to highlight:

After having the wholeeeeee week to prepare for this game. To script a set of plays. To get this team on track after repeated abysmal first quarter showings. To give his team confidence on the road. On the VERY FIRST play of the game…. He runs Tarik Cohen right up the middle, for a whole yard. Most people know that on the other side of the football for this Rams team, a little guy named Aaron Donald patrols the middle of that line and is looking to crush anyone running through it. But not Nagy. Seems like he also forgot about Michael Brockers, Dante Fowler Jr., and any of their stud linebackers as well. There’s been a lot of unnecessary running of Cohen up the middle all season, but this might have been the worst one.

Another spot was last night on 3rd and 1 in the 3rd quarter. After an audible, he ultimately ends up calling an option run with Trubisky and Montgomery, which promptly loses 3 yards and the Bears are forced to punt. So normally you can chalk this up to a bad play that was executed horribly. But after the game and then again on Monday, we find out that the Bears knew Trubisky had a hip issue coming out of the locker room in the second half. So why run an option here after refusing to design run plays around Mitch all season? Do it when he has a hurt hip and can’t move? This. This was the time to do it. Ok. One more thing about this play, and it has to do with Nagy’s comments after the game (feels like we’ve been here before). Take a look at this:

“We had a kill on the play, but Mitch made the right decision and sometimes you have those plays. That’s certainly one that I look back at, you know, and wish that we could have back. There’s a couple of those per game, but those guys did everything we asked them to.”

Via The Chicago Bears

Okay, I’m going to do a little deep dive and maybe read into this too much. BUT, basically Nagy is saying that they had another play called, Mitch killed it, which was the right decision according to him, and that Mitch and the guys did exactly what they asked. As the weeks go on, it’s feeling more and more like this isn’t all on Mitch and this is why. Nagy and his staff are telling Mitch and this team, that in this situation, killing the play, to an option run, to the short side of the field, when Mitch is injured, and Montgomery came into the game as questionable, is the “right play”. Maybe Mitch isn’t getting the right advice and coaching? He’s being told that he made the right play, when to almost everyone else with eyeballs and a brain watching the game thought it was a bad call.

Throw in his injury? Sheesh.

Backup QBs Are Thriving In Their Coaches’ Systems

Ok, thriving may be a stretch, but for the most part, look better than anything the Bears have put together on the offensive side of the ball this season. It’s yet another reason why this may not all be on Mitch. Look at how many other QBs have just been, more or less, plug and play into a system and are able to put up more than 16.9 points and 262 yards in a game:

Kyle Allen – Panthers

Brandon Allen – Broncos

Teddy Bridgewater – Saints

Daniel Jones – Giants

Gardner Minshew – Jaguars

Ryan Tannehill – Titans

Jacoby Brissett – Colts (ok… I know…he doesn’t necessarily fit in here)

Kyler Murray – Cardinals (starter from day one but still looks fine in his offense as a rookie)

Matt Moore – Chiefs 

Then you have backup QBs that have looked less than stellar:

Ryan Finley – Bengals

Jeff Driskel – Lions

Dwayne Haskins – Redskins

Whatever garbage was being thrown out – Jets

Chase Daniel – Bears 

Oh, look at that. Another Bears QB. Interestingly enough, Chase Daniel is supposed to be Nagy’s “guy” and knows this offense like the back of his hand. Doesn’t do much good to know an offense like the back of your hand if it’s on par with the Bengals, Redskins, and Jets anyway. The Bengals…Redskins…and Jets…Jesus.

Dropped Passes

The past few weeks the Bears have been noticeably dropping passes and the numbers show it. They now lead the league in dropped passes with 15. Well, they’re tied with the Browns, but you get the picture… Another reason why this doesn’t appear to all be on Mitch anymore. Just last night against the Rams:

Taylor Gabriel dropped one on 4th down.

Allen Robinson dropped one on 3rd down.

Anthony Miller dropped one on 2nd down that lead to an interception, and then proceeded to trash talk the defender and flash some (gang?) signs? Maybe not any gang affiliation, but it wasn’t your typical run-of-the-mill flipping of the bird. No idea what it was.

https://twitter.com/JackMacCFB/status/1196252639480164353?s=20

The Bears Don’t Have A Tight End

Trey Burton landed on IR earlier this week after being nonexistent through the first 10 weeks of the season. 

Adam Shaheen, the former 2nd round pick, has been worthless since he was drafted. 

Ben Braunecker, God bless him, is an undrafted free agent that shouldn’t be the number one TE on an NFL team. Kudos to him making the team and doing all that he can though. I

Bradley Sowell is an offensive lineman turned TE. If he was that great, this wouldn’t be his 2019 timeline: 

https://twitter.com/JJStankevitz/status/1194018460529053696?s=20

That’s just a few things wrong with this team. The more and more this group gets analyzed, I feel like this may not be all on Trubisky, and I think more people are starting to have the same thought. This is Chicago though. A city that has struggled with finding a franchise quarterback while being reminded twice a year of what a Hall of Fame quarterback looks like by their rival. There was a dose of success last year, and maybe that’s the reason for the quick trigger and amplified desire to put a finger on this teams problems. Did the fans expect too much? I refuse to believe that the team was this bad last year and they just got lucky, but maybe that’s the problem. I really don’t know where the team goes from here. I don’t think you can fire Nagy after year two and the Bears don’t have a ton of room to make changes in the off-season without Pace making some (good) moves. 

Let me be clear, I don’t think that firing Nagy is the best idea and I don’t think it will happen anyway, but unless he makes some changes with his approach, I’ve got a feeling not much will change with the performance of this team. I can say with confidence at this point though, that this is not all on Mitch. He’s a big part of the blame, but the evidence is growing that he’s not being put in the best position to succeed. We have to remember that he didn’t pick himself in the draft. It’s easy to point the finger at Mitch, but if you’re angry about him being a “wasted second overall pick”, that’s on Pace. If you’re angry about the play calling, that’s on Nagy. If you’re angry about missing a wide-open WR downfield, now that’s on Mitch.

Honorable Mentions

Stupid penalties has been a trend this season (see Anthony Miller unsportsmanlike penalties), but for the Rams game, I’m looking at you Cordarrelle Patterson. Taking your helmet off and running around screaming while trailing towards the end of 3rd?…. after a routine tackle on a punt? C’mon man.

• The Offensive line is still not playing great
• Khalil Mack is nowhere to be found
• Leonard Floyd is nowhere to be found
• Akiem Hicks and Danny Trevathan are hurt

What other non-Mitch related issues are you seeing with this team? Comment below.

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