Sour Season Opener for Bears

September 6, 2019

It was a melancholy Thursday night as the Chicago Bears lost their season opener 10-3 to the Green Bay Packers. Before I go into detail, here is synopsis of an ugly defeat. The defense played well, while the offense had a possession where they needed 40 yards for a first down.

The defense was extremely good, especially early. The Packers had negative yards on their first three possessions. Bears fans breathed a sigh of relief when rookie kicker, Eddie Pineiro nailed a 38 yard field goal to put the Bears ahead 3-0. However, Pineiro’s good vibe disappeared when his ensuing kick-off went out of bounds. The Packers took over the field position advantage starting at their 35 yard line.

Aaron Rodgers is arguably the best quarterback in the NFL.  If he has no pressure, he’ll pick apart your defense. Early in the second quarter he had plenty of time and pulled off what I call the “Jordy Nelson” play, hitting wide open receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling with a bomb deep in Bears territory. His next pass was pulled down in the end zone by Jimmy Graham; Packers 7, Bears 3.

The Bears sacked Rodgers 5 times and limited Green Bay to 10 points. This should be good enough to win most games. Last year the defense would force turnovers where they scored or set up short scoring drives to cover up their putrid offense.

I’m not sold on Coach Matt Nagy. He is in charge of this offense that could only manage three points. I did agree with his plan not to play his starters in pre-season. In hindsight, it may have been prudent to take his offense on a test drive in their second or third exhibition games. They came out rusty and discombobulated. However, Nagy’s play calling and decision making defied his guru status.

Third down, one yard for a first. Last year running back Jordan Howard could get you a first down on a regular basis. They traded him because he didn’t fit in with Nagy’s pass happy offense. They added Mike Davis and drafted David Montgomery. Tarik Cohen is the third running back. They may fit Nagy’s offense but none are your prototypical power runners in short gains situations. Nagy first tries Mike Davis who gets stopped at the line of scrimmage.  Next time Nagy inserts kick returner/wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who rarely is used as a running back. Real good deception by Nagy. Everyone knew he was getting the ball to Patterson who also did not get the first down.  The third time, Nagy eschews the run and calls a pass. Trubisky gets rushed and goes down for no gain.

In the off-season the Bears made a big deal about a potent running attack. Too bad they have a coach who doesn’t know how to install it. The Bears ran the ball 12 times and attempted 45 passes. Quarterback Mitch Trubisky was ineffective. If not for receiver Allen Robinson he would have been worse than bad. Trubisky avoided pressure with a roll-out play where he completed an 11 yard pass reception for a first down. However, Nagy doesn’t call that play again. What is supposed to be Nagy’s forte is not working. One of the main objectives of his job is make to Trubisky better. If Trubisky doesn’t vastly improve, the Bears will have a coaching problem.

When you are down 4 points going into the fourth quarter you can still try to run the ball. Nagy gets impatient with the run. He calls 23 passes and no running plays in the quarter. Just for good measure, they have the ball in range for a 50 yard field goal in perfect kicking conditions. It’s fourth down needing ten yards for a first down. Nagy calls for another pass that falls incomplete and they turn the ball over.

After the game, Nagy does his best former coach John Fox when he said we had good practices. Good practices means diddly-squat! Trubisky talks about the offense as a whole instead of taking accountability for how bad he played. They must turn things around in Denver.