Matt Nagy is having a very bad 2021. It’s probably going to lead to a very bad 2022.
The Bears’ head coach — a man unable to glue himself back together following the sheer trauma of the Double Doink — has truly been going through it this fall. Being freed from the specter of Mitchell Trubisky has given him little comfort. If anything, it’s made his job even tougher.
Early last week, he refused to reveal whether rookie Justin Fields, a player with the promise to deliver Chicago from three-plus decades of sub-par quarterbacking, would start in place of Andy Dalton. Nagy chalked this up to a scheme-based offensive strategy before relenting, eventually allowing the football world at large to imagine a world where Fields commands the Bears offense. Then he proved just how meaningless that excuse was when he left his young QB to twist in a Dalton-inspired gameplan that ended with nine sacks, 15 (FIFTEEN) quarterback hits, and one net yard of passing offense in a 26-6 loss.
Now he’s going the opposite direction with this. “You guys wanted to drag me for not mentioning a quarterback last Monday,” he almost certainly did not say to himself. “Fine. Have ALL the quarterbacks instead.”
Bears’ HC Matt Nagy told reporters today that all three QBs – Justin Fields, Nick Foles and Andy Dalton – are under consideration to start in Week 4 against the Lions.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 27, 2021
That’s … huh. Rather than learn from Fields’ utterly regrettable start and adjust an offense to his limitations, Nagy appears content to roll with his one-size-fits-none philosophy of shotgun snaps, pocket passing, and a hastily drawn frowny face on the team’s white board where it used to say “BLOCKING.” Dalton was Nagy’s unquestioned starter when healthy, but suddenly he’s at risk of ceding snaps to everyone else on the roster. This is an attempt to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks, only Chicago’s options are all Superballs and each one is going to bounce back before lodging in Nagy’s throat.
Let’s take a closer look at what he’s dealing with:
- Dalton: 5.3 yards per pass attempt (32nd among 34 qualified QBs), 4.0 air yards per attempt (34th of 34), 83.9 passer rating (27th of 34)
- Fields: 3.9 yards per pass attempt (34th of 34), 7.4 air yards per attempt (21st of 34), 39.9 passer rating (34th of 34)
- Foles: 80.8 passer rating in 2020, 6-16 as a starter when not a Philadelphia Eagle, good at beating Tom Brady but not much else
Dalton is the higher-floor, low-ceiling candidate capable of sneaking a few wins when the defense plays well. Fields is the massive potential, catastrophic failure option who could set the Bears up for success in the future or collapse in upon himself like a dying star. Foles is chaos who, like a gas station sandwich, can only be properly handled in eastern Pennsylvania.
These are three very different players. Giving each of them equal time in a quarterback race would be a Herculean task for even accomplished coaches. Nagy’s gonna take a crack at this after throwing Fields to the wolves with a rigid gameplan that boiled down to 60 minutes of trying to hammer puzzle pieces together rather than figuring out where they fit.
It’s not an encouraging revelation for the 1-2 Bears. But hey, if you’re in charge of winding the Nagy doomsday clock, at least you’re keeping busy this fall.
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