The Chicago Bears have plenty of issues to address this offseason if they hope to make a return trip to the postseason. A lot of those issues surround the Bears offense, which was one of the worst in the NFL in 2019.
General manager Ryan Pace remained steadfast in his commitment to quarterback Mitchell Trubisky in 2020, although things can certainly change between now and the start of the regular season.
But if the Bears remain committed to getting the most out of Trubisky — with Chicago’s championship-caliber defense in place — Matt Nagy needs to examine what works best for his quarterback. Tailor the offense around Trubisky rather than force Trubisky to acclimate to his offense.
Backup quarterback Chase Daniel joined ESPN’s Golic and Wingo on Friday, where he talked all about Trubisky’s up-and-down season and the offense’s struggles. He also teased what awaits the breakdown of this offense, which included an interesting tidbit about how the Bears could look at what the Baltimore Ravens have done on offense with quarterback Lamar Jackson and use a similar approach with Trubisky.
“We can’t wait to get to the offseason in terms of breaking down what we’ve done well, breaking down what we’ve done bad, stuff that maybe we need to get more into, schemes we may need to copy — maybe it’s Lamar Jackson in Baltimore with running — stuff like that,” Daniel said. “It’s going to be an interesting offseason.”
While Trubisky was far from a star quarterback in 2018, he was a quarterback with a reputation for killing opposing defenses with his legs. Trubisky’s mobility was a weapon that the Bears utilized in 2018, and it was something that was absent in 2019.
Trubisky was dealing with a shoulder injury on his non-throwing arm, as well as a hip injury, so that could’ve been aspects that factored in. But Nagy failed to utilize Trubisky’s mobility the way the Ravens are utilizing Jackson’s mobility.
Not that Trubisky is Jackson, who has proven to be just as much of a threat in the pocket as out of it. But the Ravens tailored their offense to fit their quarterback’s needs, and it’s had great results.
The Bears need to get back to doing what they do well — in Trubisky’s case, rolling him outside the pocket and more designed quarterback runs. Now, it won’t necessarily create Lamar Jackson-like results, but it couldn’t hurt at this point, right?
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