Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy has often been described as too stubborn to make changes on offense. But when you’re riding a four-game losing streak after winning five of your first six games, you have to choose between your pride and your job.
Nagy made the decision to hand over play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor for the Minnesota Vikings game, which garnered similar results to Nagy’s play-calling.
So it’s fair to assume Nagy would be open to making more changes on offense, especially as that losing streak dipped to four games.
While quarterback Nick Foles hasn’t been the only problem on offense, he’s definitely been an issue. He’s struggled since taking over for Mitchell Trubisky in the second half of their Week 3 game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Foles has had similar struggles to Trubisky, but he’s also had difficulty behind a shoddy offensive line. Foles lacks the mobility that Trubisky often utilized to escape a collapsing pocket.
Neither are the future of this team, but making the switch back to Trubisky could give this offense a boost that it so desperately needs.
All season, Nagy has shot down the idea of going back to Trubisky. After all, it would be admitting he made a mistake. That the issue on offense isn’t the quarterback, it’s a plethora of factors, including the play caller.
But when asked Tuesday whether he’s considering switching back to Trubisky, for the first time this season, Nagy didn’t shoot it down.
Asked about switching back to Mitchell Trubisky, Nagy said: "When you lose four in a row, everything's on the table." Key factor is that both are dealing with injuries.
— Larry Mayer (@LarryMayer) November 17, 2020
“When you lose four in a row, everything’s on the table,” Nagy told reporters.
But there’s also another factor in play aside from performance: Injuries.
While it appeared Trubisky was favored to get the nod against the Green Bay Packers coming out of the bye week because of Foles’ hip injury, which had him carted off the field on Monday night, Foles’ injury isn’t as serious as initially believed.
Both Trubisky (shoulder) and Foles (hip) are both day-to-day with injuries. But according to Mike Garafolo, the Bears are optimistic that both Foles and Trubisky will be available for that Sunday Night Football match-up against the Packers in Week 12.
If that’s the case, we’ll see if Nagy will actually pull the trigger and make the switch.
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