HC Candidate: Arthur Smith, Titans OC

#FireEveryoneGeorge

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Watching the work he has done with Tannehill and that Titans offense is a thing of beauty. He’s a former offensive lineman and previously coached tight ends so he understands the importance of the guys in the trenches. Balancing a contemporary rushing offense that’s one of the best in the NFL with a potent passing attack has led them to rank around 5th in scoring offense. If you read up on him he has the leadership skills (and mentors) to be a great HC.

This guy should be at the top of the list to interview for Bears HC. His offense would be a perfect scheme for Chicago.

Here’s a good article about him but there are many more out there as well.

“Here, there are so many things that happen and happen quick. Injuries, salary cap, things are constantly changing. And maybe that’s where my mindset goes back to my Jesuit teaching in high school. Expand your thinking. It wasn’t something I learned from one person in particular; it was how I was raised, lessons learned over the years and I knew if I ever got a shot [at calling plays] I wasn’t going to be stubborn and say, ‘This is the only way to do it.’ I wanted to be flexible and adapt.”

 
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#FireEveryoneGeorge

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#FireEveryoneGeorge

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“You just try to get creative and find ways to move the football and use the strengths of the personnel we have,” offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said Thursday.”

“It’s about what the players can understand,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “The plays are great. The players are the ones that make them work and make them successful. So, I think it’s a fine line between just running a bunch of stuff that we think may work or running things that the players have shown confidence in, have a belief that it will work and have answers versus multiple coverages, multiple fronts.”


 

#FireEveryoneGeorge

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IF, and it’s a big if, Ryan Pace somehow manages to keep his job, Arthur Smith is the guy that would best mesh with the current offensive “talent” Pace has put together. This type of offense would have been a natural progression from Fox-ball, but one that’s modern and effective, unlike Nagy’s shotgun, pass-happy shit show that we’ve been witnessing the last 3 years.
 

rawdawg

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Arthur Smith is extremely intriguing. He's been with the Titans since 2011. That means he's coached under Mike Munchak, Ken Whisenhunt, Mike Mularkey, and now Mike Vrabel. It's pretty unprecedented to last thru this many coaching changes. And to top it off, he's gone from defensive QC coach to offensive QC to OL coach to TE coach to offensive coordinator.

One concern I have is how his playaction heavy offense works without an absolute monster of a RB. They also throw to some speedy TEs and have receivers that are good after the catch. I also really like their screen game. And you can't deny the fact that he turned around Ryan Tannehill's career.
 

#FireEveryoneGeorge

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This article is from a Jets blog about possible HC candidates for them, but there’s a lot of good info about Arthur Smith that could be applied to the Bears as well.

“Smith establishes the run, uses play action to open up the defense, takes shots downfield, and keeps it simple for his QB. His offense is very much in the same vein as NFL wonderboys Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay.”

Keep it simple for his QB! Wow, what a concept? Nagy does just the complete opposite in his “offense”. Also...

“Smith does things differently. He is not tethered to old-school philosophies and instead remains open-minded with no fear of calling anything. He’s versatile and molds his system to his players, not the other way around.

 

mattb78

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Great post OP. The concerns are youth and inexperience, but I think he separates himself from Nagy in that Vrabel likely isn't the offensive guru behind the scenes that he is piggybacking off of like Nagy was with Reid.

Bottom line is that anyone who is responsible for a nearly 20 point jump in QBR for Ryan Tannehill deserves serious consideration as a HC.
 

#FireEveryoneGeorge

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If you read about how Arthur Smith has treated the situation with Tannehill, it makes you wonder what could have been with Trubisky had Pace hired someone like Arthur Smith 3 years ago instead of the “offensive guru/genius” Matt Nagy.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Trubisky would become as good as Tannehill, but with a Titans-like offense playing into the strengths of Trubisky and an elite defense, the Bears would have been a playoff team each of the last 3 years. And if that were the case we wouldn’t be talking about which QB the Bears will be drafting in 2021.
 

mattb78

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with a Titans-like offense playing into the strengths of Trubisky and an elite defense, the Bears would have been a playoff team

Agreed. But as I have said many times, "you hire and fire coaches until you find the right one". Nagy was a hot candidate at the time. He had his shot, missed, now its next man up.

With this defense, we need a decent power running game. That is why Baltimore's scheme interests me. I don't think we have the QB to run a west coast system. Air raid will never be a good compliment. I would like to see power run/play action in 2021 with a QB draft selection that can develop us into a versatile balanced offense. Gruden is doing a nice job rushing the ball as well.
 

#FireEveryoneGeorge

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Agreed. But as I have said many times, "you hire and fire coaches until you find the right one". Nagy was a hot candidate at the time. He had his shot, missed, now its next man up.

With this defense, we need a decent power running game. That is why Baltimore's scheme interests me. I don't think we have the QB to run a west coast system. Air raid will never be a good compliment. I would like to see power run/play action in 2021 with a QB draft selection that can develop us into a versatile balanced offense. Gruden is doing a nice job rushing the ball as well.

I agree with you as well. My favorite run scheme is power/man. I really like how the Ravens run the ball as well.

My concerns with Greg Roman (Ravens OC) is 1) in watching a couple videos of him, I think he’s one of those “smarter than everyone else in the room” type of guys. And I’m not sure he has the leadership skills required to be a HC. Coordinator might be his ceiling. 2) Both in San Francisco and Baltimore, Roman’s offenses seem to get “figured out” after a couple years. In both places his offenses lit it up but then came crashing down when people forced the QB to be an accurate passer. It’s happening with Lamar Jackson this year. Jackson has also complained that their offense is too predictable.

Regardless of all that though, I love how physical their offense is as well as their power running game.
 

Enasic

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I remember when Nagy was hired, he talked a big game about being able to adapt and how he was ultra flexible. If the defense did this, they would counter with that. If they adjusted to that, he would counter. He would put guys into the best positions to succeed etc.

Now, I'm not saying Smith can't do this. In fact, he's had more sustained success than Nagy ever did as an OC by a long shot. That's a positive. But the Bears definitely need an offensive mind capable of adapting and not pigeon holing themselves into only one way to do things. That's one of the biggest reasons I was high on Nagy when he was hired. Unfortunately, it was all salesmanship and he bamboozled his way in. With the help of Andy Reid, I might add. Those two are extremely close, and it appears that Reid wanted his guy afforded the opportunity. But looking back on it, there's no possible way Reid could have believed Nagy was ready. He actually said he was the most NFL ready HC he's ever had. That was AFTER Pederson won a SB. So yeah....thanks Reid. Hope Nagy bought you something nice.
 

rawdawg

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Agreed. But as I have said many times, "you hire and fire coaches until you find the right one". Nagy was a hot candidate at the time. He had his shot, missed, now its next man up.

With this defense, we need a decent power running game. That is why Baltimore's scheme interests me. I don't think we have the QB to run a west coast system. Air raid will never be a good compliment. I would like to see power run/play action in 2021 with a QB draft selection that can develop us into a versatile balanced offense. Gruden is doing a nice job rushing the ball as well.

Don't really care about a power running game. Some of the best rushing offenses are zone schemes. The Bears don't have the personnel for power running, being that probably all 3 of Leno, Daniels and Whitehair will be back next year and none are power blockers. Even if you get rid of Leno, having 2 of your 3 interior blockers not being power scheme guys won't make this a power running team.

But my point is, I don't want the Bears pigeonholed into any particular scheme. The whole appeal of Smith was his adaptability. I want a coach that will adapt his scheme to the players. We already have a coach that run what he thinks are good plays regardless of who's running them.
 
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I've been watching Titans games this year as I really like their offense. Just last sunday I was thinking to myself wouldn't it be great if the Bears D could have the Titans O. That's what a Bears O should look like. Who would stop that team ?
 

Tillman33

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The best young coaching prospect in the league will definitely come to this cursed franchise to play for a lame duck GM

Will only happen if major changes happen and I don’t see it sadly
 

#FireEveryoneGeorge

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I've been watching Titans games this year as I really like their offense. Just last sunday I was thinking to myself wouldn't it be great if the Bears D could have the Titans O. That's what a Bears O should look like. Who would stop that team ?

Ive had the exact same thoughts. That blue-collar type offense would pair perfectly with Chicago and the current defense.
 

rawdawg

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The best young coaching prospect in the league will definitely come to this cursed franchise to play for a lame duck GM

Will only happen if major changes happen and I don’t see it sadly

Eh. There's 32 NFL HC jobs in the world. Maybe the best young coaching prospect will turn down the job, but it's only if he has other options. And it's not like being the best coaching prospect means automatically good coach. And it's not like there's only 1 good coaching prospect and you run out of options.
 

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