No matter how you look at it, the Chicago Bears offense was abysmal in 2019. With the exception of receiver Allen Robinson, who seemed to thrive with questionable quarterback play and play calling, that is.
But one of the biggest struggles, outside of quarterback, was the ineffectiveness of the run game, which was among the worst in the NFL. Chicago averaged 3.7 yards per rush in 2019, which tied for 27th in the league.
Bears head coach and offensive play caller Matt Nagy understands the obvious — the run game needs to be better in 2020.
“When you look at the last couple years with where we’ve been, we reflect and we understand that we need to be better in the run game,” Nagy told the McNeil & Parkins Show on Friday. “When your run game isn’t quite as good as you want it to be, at that time, it’s hard to call runs. At the same time, we need to do whatever’s best for our team. We need to adjust and adapt as coaches to who our players are.
“Now that we’ve had a couple years as a staff to see figure out players’ strengths are and what their weaknesses are, now we are able to work together with them and put together a product on the field that we think is a lot better. If that means running the ball a lot more, shoot, we are going to do it.
“Whatever we need to do, we’ll do it.”
This offseason, Nagy brought in some new offensive minds, including offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and offensive line coach Juan Castillo, both of whom have experience in the run game. They also added veteran Germain Ifedi, who figures to serve as the starting right guard.
While rookie running back David Montgomery didn’t exactly thrive, he had a solid season in 2019, which was hampered by the run game’s struggles. With the new additions on offense, the Bears are confident with the current group of running backs they have on their roster, including Montgomery, Tarik Cohen and Ryan Nall.
“We feel like we’re in a good place right now to be able to move forward and feel very multiple in what we do,” Nagy said. “Trust me, all of our players, all of our coaches are doing everything we can to know that we need to be a lot better than where we were last year offensively.
“There’s no finger pointing. It’s all about solutions. It’s about working together. It’s moving on.”
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