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Your eminence,
I am writing as a lifelong, die-hard, but concerned Bears fan. I'm 38 years old and the Chicago Bears have been apart of my life since I learned to crawl. I am anxious to see the Bears bring home another Lombardi Trophy. But i feel after the promise of last years 12-4 team, the Bears are regressing and it will not get much better under the current GM/HC staff. And the bleeding needs to stop, because the current defense is Super Bowl caliber, and deserves better.
Ryan Pace is a decent scout on the defensive side of the ball. But you don't survive as a GM if you can only scout one side of the ball. Look at his body of work on the offensive side of the ball since being hired in 2015. It's not good enough. I'll get to that shortly. But the first thing I want to dive into is his decision making in general. Again, it's not good enough.
Sadly, his worst decision to date was the hiring of Matt Nagy. Maybe you disagree at this moment. Believe me, it’s something I can't believe I am saying only 7 weeks into Nagy's 2nd year. But it's not the first time the jig was up quick in Chicago. You remember Marc Trestman.
My concerns about Nagy did start from day 1 though. I felt Pace's first mistake was hiring an Ex-Arena League QB to run an offense. But I decided to keep an open mind. But 7 weeks into his 2nd year, and one of the most SHAMEFUL stretches of play-calling and scheming in the entire 100 year history of the Chicago Bears, it turns out, my concern was 100% JUSTIFIED.
Let's face the facts. All Matt Nagy wants to do is PASS the ball. He has been exposed. I've always said, nothing exposes a coach more than when times are tough. Times are tough. So he is leaning on what he believes. And believing that BALANCE is NOT necessary to SUSTAINABLE, WINNING football, is a major flaw. A flaw that falls on Ryan Pace and his judgement for hiring Nagy. He stated recently, “Our job is to get first downs”. I just shook my head in disbelief when he said that. While it’s true, first downs are important, they are not as important as WINNING. And sometimes you have to sacrifice first downs in the name of winning. He gets easily frustrated and frankly I sense he gets bored with running the ball. But football is about feeling the other team out, recognizing what they are trying to stop and what you think you can do that they can’t stop. And sometimes that means a slow start. Just because the run game gets bottled up early, does not mean that the answer is to abandon it. Sometimes life is about the slow progress. No progress is called REGRESSION. Year 2 it is frightening how far this offense has regressed. It’s easy to point the finger at the players. But with so many young players who haven’t come close to their ceiling yet, it doesn’t make sense for them to be regressing. That is coaching, Mr. McCaskey.
I don't know what your philosophy is on SUSTAINABLE, WINNING football, but i would like to share with you my own personal philosophy, Mr. McCaskey. I am just a fan. But I have watched enough over the last 3 decades, that I will put my philosophy up against anyone in the worlds, every single time. Here it is...
There are 5 ABSOLUTES OF FOOTBALL that a thousand years from now will STILL be absolute to sustainable, winning football:
1. RUN football will ALWAYS be NECESSARY.
2. Football will ALWAYS be won in trenches when it matters the most.
3. A good defense is imperative.
4. Keep the clock TICKING
5. Balance
Currently you have a General Manager and Head Coach who do not grasp ALL 5 of these of absolutes. And when you don't grasp ALL 5, you don't achieve SUSTAINABLE winning.
Let's start with ABSOLUTE #1: RUN football will ALWAYS be NECESSARY.
Fads come and go in football. Some even change the game. Passing has become a huge part of football, and I'm not here to devalue its impact or importance. But I am here to remind you of the value of running the football. Because there is AMPLE proof throughout the league that many teams are also seeing that value. In fact 2019 will probably be remembered as the Year Run Football Returned to the NFL. Take a deep look. You'll see I'm not making things up. The teams that are winning right now and winning BIG, are the teams that are RUNNING the ball too. That is FACT. Look at the 49ers. Look at the Ravens. They are RUNNING the ball and will be playing in January, while we watch. Ryan Pace made a common mistake of GM's who fire a coach and hire a new one: They do a 360 philosophy wise. And it is often a fatal mistake. The 2017 Bears under Fox (with a rookie QB), ran the ball more than they passed. Maybe not ideal, but certainly not unreasonable. So Pace's thinking was, we need to become more explosive. Totally reasonable. But why does "explosive" mean throwing the ball will become the priority? Hiring and EX ARENA LEAGUE QB clearly must have told Pace that pass-first is what he was signing up for, no matter how Matt Nagy presented his plans in the interview. You don't achieve sustainable winning by being ONE THING more than the OTHER. Not pass first. Not run first. Fox ultimately failed, but surely he believed in balance. I am convinced Matt Nagy does NOT. The goal when changing offenses shouldn't be a 360. It should be a 180 at the most. Because sustainable, winning offensive football is about BALANCE. When the guys on TV and the radio are calling the Bears offense are an absolute embarrassment, there is some truth to that. The common refrain coming from these people: When your QB has lost all of his confidence, and he has, no matter what Mitch or anyone in the building is telling you, you need to RUN THE BALL. Especially when you have a defense capable of keeping you in games.
ABSOLUTE #2: Football will ALWAYS be won in trenches when it matters the most.
This goes for both sides of the ball too, but let's start with the o-line. Nagy, because of his pass-first philosophy, has an offensive line right now that CAN'T run block very well. But the answer is NOT to call more pass plays. The answer is to keep trying to run and finding the guys on the roster who are at least PASSIONATE about becoming good run-blockers. The tone of a ball game isn't set with the best passer or the flashiest runner. It is set in the TRENCHES by the big guys who push more than they get pushed. Super Bowls are won or lost in the trenches. Never forget that, Mr. McCaskey. So a key this coming off-season, JUST AS KEY as figuring out your QB, is finding 5 o-line starters who are capable of pass and RUN blocking on any given play.
ABSOLUTE #3: 3. A good defense is imperative.
You already know this. Everyone already knows this.
ABSOLUTE #4: Keep the clock TICKING.
Yesterday's game was probably the biggest indictment in the history of Bears football on NOT letting the clock be your friend. Here is a statistic that you should find absolutely fascinating and ALARMING:
With 2 mins left in the 3rd quarter of the Bears-Saints game yesterday, there were 2 mins left in the 4TH QUARTER of the Titans-Chargers game. I think they started at 4:05, but that is still one of the most incredible things i have ever seen. It means that Matt Nagy and his play calls were literally STOPPING THE CLOCK ON ALMOST EVERY SINGLE DOWN. 7 runs yesterday. I don't have to tell you, but i will....that is NOT a recipe for sustainable winning football. Do you know what is? BEING THE SHORTEST GAME on a Sunday. When the CLOCK IS TICKING, you are probably doing something right. From Halas to Ditka....if there's one thing they understood, its that EATING CLOCK as often as you can in a game is better than stopping it. But when you don't run the ball and you're just throwing incompletions, you can't eat clock. Remember the Bills-Giants Super Bowl of 1990? How did the Giants with their backup QB win that Super Bowl? 2 words: TICKING CLOCK. Parcells knew he couldn't stop the Bills offense for 60 minutes.. So he only let them have the ball for 19:27. While his team had the ball for 40:33. Lop-sided possession time =VICTORY, almost EVERY TIME.
ABSOLUTE #5: BALANCE
This letter has probably sounded like an old school, 50 year old who still wears a Bryan Cox jersey, but as I said I'm 38...still young enough to appreciate the importance of passing the ball but old enough to know how important a good run game is too. And I have no patience for LOP-SIDED play calling. Especially when its not working. Do i prefer RUN FOOTBALL? Yep, I sure do. I grew up watching Ditka call runs on all 3 downs for Anderson and Muster. But i prefer SUSTAINABLE, WINNING football first and foremost. Passing is a part of that. But so is running the ball. In fact, running can be MORE important sometimes. Some weeks passing can. But for the long haul, you HAVE to do both. You just HAVE to.
One thing has become clear. Mitch (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky is not an elite passer of the football. He can NOT make the throws that Rodgers or Stafford make. Or even his classmates Watson and Mahomes (For the record I wanted Watson leading up to that draft. While Watson started more than DOUBLE the amount of college games (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky did and was beating teams like Alabama, (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky was doing ok against Wake Forest.)
No matter how Ryan Pace may spin it to you, Ryan Pace mis-evaluated that QB class. And he mis-evaluated Mitch. In fact if he was the ONLY QB in that class, I would've passed on. Because there is ALWAYS a better QB coming through the collegiate ranks soon enough. The good news for the Bears right now, is there is an EXPLOSION of elite throwers of the football in the college ranks happening right now. A renaissance. And it's not going away. But do you allow Ryan Pace to potentially miss AGAIN? Based on his QB evaluations so far (sticking with Cutler/ out-bidding himself for Mike Glennon while Case Keenum signed with the Vikings for lunch money and led to them to the NFC Championship/ (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky over Watson and Mahomes/rolling with vet backups like Chase Daniel instead of identifying YOUNG talent in the 6th round like Tom Coughlin did with Gardner Minshew.)
Above all, Ryan Pace mis-evaluated on Matt Nagy. He's looking like Trestman Part 2. The league has exposed him as a PASS-FIRST guy. Lowest number of rush attempts in FRANCHISE HISTORY yesterday vs the Saints...coming off a BYE WEEK in which Nagy preached running more. I mean, cmon. And his pass scheming isn't even that impressive. When Tarik Cohen catches 9 passes for 19 yards (the 2nd fewest yards for that many catches since 1940), you aren't scheming your pass game very well either.
Any way you slice it, Matt Nagy, an OFFENSIVE MINDED COACH, is literally setting offensive football back DECADES in Chicago. 6 STRAIGHT GAMES WITH UNDER 300YDS OF OFFENSE. 54 pass attempts. 87 yards. Sure blame has to go to Mitch too. But thats bad play-calling and bad scheming first and foremost. Mitch didn't all of a sudden just forget how to play QB. He is REGRESSING from last year. Makes no sense. THAT IS COACHING.
Matt Nagy seems like a good guy and a good motivator. But you know as well I do, a coaches DNA doesn't ever truly change. If his preference is pass football, he isn't going to magically prefer running the ball all of sudden, no matter what he might be saying to his superiors. It’s just what he believes. The proof is in his words. He had a bye week of knowing and preaching that more run calls were necessary. What does he do when the bye week is over? He proceeds to call the fewest runs plays in a game in BEARS HISTORY. So you know as well I do, that a coaching change, or at the least a play-caller change is INEVITABLY coming with Nagy. It'd be no different if i was the play-caller for the Bears. I believe in RUN FIRST. And if I was the play caller no amount of money or accolades would ever make me stop believing that RUN first isn't whats best for the Bears. You'd have to demote me or fire me. Plain and simple.
Who was the last coach in Chicago to have SUSTAINABLE, WINNING FOOTBALL. Consecutive playoff appearance (3 years or more)? Mike Ditka. He was also the last coach who truly CARED about the the Bears. He LOVED the Bears. Maybe its time to identify a coach who LOVES THE BEARS.
Maybe its time to go get a guy like Jim Harbaugh. I'm aware of his struggles at Michigan, but theres no arguing his track record in the NFL. And I think its the worst kept secret in sports that he would LOVE to come back to Chicago and coach the team he loves.
I don't care who the coach is as long as he cares about winning and understands the time-tested, ageless concept of BALANCE.
And if Ryan Pace doesn't grasp that concept either, than maybe he should be replaced too. I am just as alarmed by his offensive decision making as I am with Nagy's.
I speak for all Bears fans when I say we just want SUSTAINABLE, WINNING FOOTBALL. So far, all Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy have proven, is that they can't do that.
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