Much like general manager Ryan Pace, Matt Nagy didn’t reveal anything game-changing in his press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday.
As was expected, Nagy faced an onslaught of questions revolving around the struggles of the offense last season and what’s ultimately being done to remedy those mistakes in 2020.
Nagy stated the obvious when it comes to the importance of establishing an offensive identity as soon as possible. But he also put his players on notice when he discussed the importance of challenging every player on this roster to rise to the occasion, especially quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
Here are five things we learned from Nagy’s press conference:
1. Nagy will continue to call plays
There was plenty of blame to go around when it came to Chicago’s offensive struggles in 2019. Questionable quarterback play, a struggling offensive line and the ineffectiveness of tight ends were just some of those factors. Another person that was subject to blame, and rightfully so, was head coach Matt Nagy, whose play-calling was called into question.
To the surprise of no one, Nagy maintained that he will continue to call plays in 2020. There are several coaches on his staff that have experience calling plays, and Nagy insists he’ll talk things through with them. While Nagy found success as a play caller in his first season, he experienced a lot last season that he says has helped him as a play-caller.
2. The goal on offense is to establish an identity early
The Bears offense didn’t exactly get off to a fast start in 2019. In fact, you could argue they really didn’t get going until Thanksgiving, where they put together two back-to-back solid performances against the Lions and Cowboys. But outside of that? The Bears offense never really established an identity.
For Nagy, he said the goal this offseason is to figure out the offense’s identity, especially when it comes to the run game. Nagy has often said that it should take five or six weeks for that to happen, but that’s not exactly the case heading into 2020. Nagy insisted that there’s “a sense of urgency” when it comes to establishing the team’s offensive identity as soon as possible this season.
3. Nagy is willing to change the scheme to improve offense
One of the criticisms with Nagy’s play-calling last season centered around whether or not he was forcing his players to adapt to his scheme rather than adapt his scheme to his players. It was something that Nagy was quite open about when talking to the media. When asked if he would be open to changing his scheme to better fit his players, Nagy said it was “absolutely” something he would do.
After two years of watching his players in this offense, Nagy has a better understanding of his players do well and where they struggled. Nagy acknowledged that “it’s not fair to force them into something that I do.” So this offseason will be about adapting his offense to fit these players particular strengths and weaknesses and giving everyone a chance to succeed.
4. Nagy encouraged new coaching hires will help offense succeed
The Bears offense simply did not get it done last season, which prompted Nagy to bring in four new offensive minds with a plethora of coaching experience. Specifically, Bill Lazor, John DeFilippo, Juan Castillo and Clancy Barone all specialize in an area of the offense that struggled in 2019 — including overall offensive execution, quarterback, run game, offensive line and tight end.
While some might say that there are “too many cooks in the kitchen,” Nagy doesn’t feel that way. He sees it more as an opportunity to bring new ideas to the table. He feels like he can learn from all of those minds — being around those guys, being able to delegate roles and sharing ideas that will hopefully lead to offensive success in 2020.
5. Nagy wants every player to feel they’re being challenged for their position, including Mitchell Trubisky
One of the things that might’ve doomed the Bears last season was that they bought into the pre-season hype where everyone expected Chicago to easily glide to a repeat playoff berth. As everyone well knows, that wasn’t the case as the Bears struggled just to finish .500 after going 12-4 a season ago. Heading into 2020, there shouldn’t be any of those lofty expectations.
Nagy wants everyone to feel as if their job is being challenged as a way to prevent players from playing with a sense of contentedness, which he has voiced to his players. Nagy wants his entire team to play with “more of a chip on their shoulder.” And yes, that includes quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, who appears to be on a much shorter leash this season. While last season he was the guaranteed starter, that doesn’t feel like the case heading into 2020.
