When your offense was one of the worst in the NFL last season, obviously changes need to be made. Which is exactly what Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy has done this offseason.
That started with the newest members of his offensive coaching staff, which include offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo, offensive line coach Juan Castillo and tight ends coach Clancy Barone, who bring a combined 40 years of experience with them.
And, no, it’s not a coincidence that those new coaches specialize in the areas where the Bears struggled most last season as an offense.
While Nagy runs the offense, first and foremost he’s the head coach, which means that his responsibilities run deeper than just offense. Nagy will remain the play-caller in 2020, but he’ll have experienced offensive minds to help keep the offense together.
“I need to be an excellent head coach,” Nagy said, via SI.com. “In order to do that, the more manpower you have on that side of the ball—that can help get it going and can keep it together, and keep it detailed and overcommunicate clarity and still have beautiful ideas—the more of that we have, if done the right way, it can just take off. So what we’ve done with those three guys, we’ve explained their roles—who’s responsible for this, who’s responsible for that.”
“They’re all in. They all get it.”
According to Albert Breer, it’s similar to how the Philadelphia Eagles run things, where the head coach is responsible for calling plays, the offensive coordinator runs unit and staff meetings and specific coaches are responsible for individual parts of the offense (red zone, run game, etc.). He hopes that, ultimately, it’ll benefit the quarterbacks room.
“The way they had things in Philadelphia, with Frank Reich, (Doug) Pederson and Flip in 2017, that’s a pretty good deal there,” Nagy said. “And I think the quarterbacks in those rooms feel that. Now, the quarterbacks know too the structure of these things. So when you do that, and when you all speak the same language, which is what we’re doing right now, with us and the quarterbacks, that’s what we think can really help us improve in that room.”
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