Nagy was outcoached when he wasn’t trying to out-cute himself, and he was particularly awful when it came to managing the clock and the ball late in the game.
With the Bears’ 20-point lead down to three in the final three minutes and the Packers out of timeouts, the Bears faced third-and-2 at the Packers 14. Jordan Howard had run for 27 yards on his previous two carries on the drive. On third down, the Bears passed. Incomplete. The clock stopped. What the ...?
Instead of running the ball on fourth down to gain a new series that could’ve ended the game — and even if it didn’t, it certainly wouldn’t have left Rodgers so much time — the Bears kicked a field goal that didn’t put them up by a touchdown.
You have to give the ball to Howard there. You have to be able to get 2 yards. You have to be able to win the line of scrimmage. There was no need to try to get cute. Just play football. Why risk stopping the clock? The Bears didn’t look like a team with 2,000 snaps since organized team activities. They didn’t execute like a team that could afford to skip live game action in the preseason.
Earlier in the second half, Nagy called a pass play after Howard had gained 9 yards on first and second down, and on that critical third-down pass across the field, Dion Sims couldn’t figure out he needed to get past the sticks to make any of it work. Was that covered in any of those 2,000 snaps since OTAs?
But wait. This is where stupid meets bad. Nagy’s postgame explanation included the point that Bears starters didn’t get a lot of snaps in the preseason.
Yes, and whose decision was that, Coach Nagy?
Galling. His team wasn’t fit enough to compete, and he dares to bring up preseason snaps. Embarrassing.
