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Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy did the unthinkable last season when he handed over playcalling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor.
But don’t expect Nagy to hand over the responsibility during a make-or-break season with his job on the line. Nagy confirmed on Friday that he will be the one calling plays in 2021.
“I’m going to be the one calling the plays this year, and so I know that you’ll probably be asking that, so we can just let you know that from the front end,” Nagy said on a video call, via ESPN.
Chicago’s offense struggled to find any semblance of rhythm last season when Nagy was calling players, which prompted the former Coach of the Year to hand over playcalling duties to Lazor.
The Bears offense did put together an impressive four games, where they scored more than 30 points in each, against some bad defenses. But it was the only time that Chicago’s offense looked like an effective offense for an extended period of time in two years.
While the Bears would like to replicate that success for the duration of the 2021 season, things are going to look different. Former No. 2 overall pick Mitchell Trubisky departed in free agency, where he joined the Buffalo Bills. Chicago, after failing to trade for Russell Wilson, inked veteran Andy Dalton to a one-year deal, where he’ll serve as the starting quarterback with Nick Foles as the back-up.
“Some things will be a little bit different [on offense],” Nagy said. “There’s going to be some things that Andy likes that Mitch and Nick hated, and vice versa. But we’re going to work together to figure out what that is. So you know, as a personnel department, as Ryan Pace as the GM, myself as the head coach and a coaching staff, when we collectively came together and said, hey, when you go through free agency and you look at everybody that’s available, it was really a consensus for us to get Andy in here and move forward as the starting quarterback.”
While Trubisky and Foles — along with other players on offense — contributed to the struggles, Nagy was as much to blame. Chicago’s offense seemed to find balance with Lazor calling plays. And it’s hard to imagine that will be the case with Nagy back calling the shots in 2021.
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