Jeff Hughes: A Training Camp Diary (to be continued)

[soulman]

3 hours ago, dll2000 said:

Good coaches play the hand they are dealt, not the hand they wish they had.

When Bears O has been good under Nagy to date is when they have featured the RB and when they have utilized lead blockers.  

Now he has explosive speed to go with ARob in Mooney and Goodwin and Byrd he can run the schemes and passing concepts and formations he wants to run.   We'll see how he does.  

Key wording bold faced.  Nagy has yet to prove that he is a "good coach".  To date I rate him more as a "likeable coach".  What he needs more than anything is to be a "tough but fair coach" and a "more respected coach".  "Good coaches" wouldn't tolerate the number of dumb pre-snap penalties, lack of precision blocking, and the overall sloppiness of the teams efforts the way that he has.

Stop worrying about being liked.  Win often enough and you'll be more than liked.  You become a legend.

How he will do with Andy Dalton as his QB is more than likely written in stone already.  My guess is mostly more of the same.

To me that means more hesitant faltering starts where we struggle to sustain scoring drives early as Nagy goes through his typically predictable scripted plays that most DCs have memorized like some of us have memorized half the lines from Blazing Saddles or The Holy Grail.  He'll say each week that he should call more runs then next week it's another rinse and repeat with abandoning the run too soon.  Why.  Because he's a former QB and one who passed a lot.  When he gets uncomfortable and impatient it's tear out the page of running plays and start passing.....now!

Fields can change all of that if he'll allow it but what are the odds on that?  Matt Nagy's problem all along and one I believe he shares with Ryan Pace is they do want to win but they want to do it their way so they can prove they were right all along in their joint vision for what the Bears offense should look like and truth be told I think they're dead wrong.  I'm not opposed to a little "Air-Coryell" now that we have speedy WRs and a gifted young QB but in Chicago you still live and die with your run game and a tough unyielding defense just as we always have when we won.

JMHO

[soulman]

Training Camp Diary: Bears in QB Twilight Zone

Jeff Hughes | August 25th, 2021

 

 

 

 

 

[soulman]

Training Camp Diary Ends: Season Approaches. I Feel Nothing.

Jeff Hughes | August 26th, 2021

---

We should all be pacing our living rooms, ordering our game-watch merch for the season, diagraming fool-proof end arounds in the condensation of our shower walls. This should be one of the more anticipatory three-week periods in the history of the Chicago Bears organization.

But it’s not that.

We should be talking to our friends, tanked in the tavern, caffeinated in the coffee shop, toweled in the Turkish bath, about how much fun it’s going to be to watch Aaron Donald try to track down Justin Fields in the backfield, only to see Fields run from the pressure and complete a ball twenty-five yards down the field.

But we won’t be doing any of that.

Instead, the fan energy and enthusiasm generated by Fields this summer – seeing a quarterback do things we have never seen one do in a Bears uniform – has been thoroughly extinguished in the short-term by his head coach mangling the position all summer long. Instead, on September 12th, we’ll be forced to sit through an entire slate of Sunday football action only to see Andy Dalton take the starter’s reins on Sunday night.

Trevor Lawrence is starting. Zach Wilson is starting. Kyle Shanahan has given Trey Lance starting reps since the first day of camp and has already made it clear Lance will be part of the game plan from day one. Hell, even Mac Jones looks like he has a chance to start, after being given competitive reps with Cam Newton all summer long.

But not Fields.

Of course not Fields.

Why? Because Matt Nagy says so, that’s why.

So it’ll be three weeks of wondering how badly Dalton has to play for the coach to make the change. It’ll be three weeks of wondering how many losses Nagy will require to put the future on the field. What if Dalton is what Dalton’s always been? What if he’s serviceable? What if the team lingers around .500 for 2-3 months? Does that mean Fields stays on the bench until December? Everyone seems convinced Fields will play quickly but what on earth has Nagy done this summer to suggest that possibility?

Fields will play eventually. We think. Meanwhile, training camp is over.

The season is 18 days away.

And I feel nothing.

[soulman]

I kinda know how he feels.  My recent moves away from total apathy towards a somewhat higher re-engagement have been frustrated by the same guy whose been frustrating me for the past two seasons.  And it ain't Mitch.  He's gone now.  Soooo.....who could it possibly be then?  Matt Nagy?

Like many old school fans I freely admit that I started off believing that decade old myth that rookie QBs aren't well enough prepared to start as rookies.  I mean it has been that way for the majority of my life as an NFL fan.  But more recently more and more rookie draftees are being given the reins to their offenses from day one.  This year alone at least 2 of 5 top draftees have already been named starters and it looks pretty positive for Trey Lance in SF and I can't help but thinking Belichick is chomping at the bit to start developing Mac Jones into his next Tom Brady, and he will.

But as camp and preseason games have rolled by once again we see a fairly talented and very experienced NFL QB struggling to run Matt Nagy's offense with Matt Nagy's play calling.  In exchange for this we also get Matt Nagy's excuses along with a subtle frosting over of anger and impatience over being asked about the obvious.  There's is a 6'3"/227lb elephant in the room who with each passing week is showing he's a better solution if the Bears expect to win than the $10 mil vet bridge QB we have and Nagy expects NOT to be questioned about it????  Yeah, right.

The net result for me is at least somewhat like Jeff Hughes feelings.  It's not that I feel nothing.  I feel that same old frustration creeping in again and along with it the need to stop watching Bears games until something changes that makes them worthwhile spending the time and money involved to watch them.  If Nagy can accomplish that with Andy Dalton fine.  I like Andy Dalton.  But most of us pretty much believe the odds of any real success under Dalton are pretty limited.  So I'll wait.  But Matt Nagy should know that if he blows this again he's toast with Bears fans.

Whether or not that would be enough for GMcC to cut his deal short and insist he be let go I can't say but he has to know that now above all fans expectations are growing again and that they're attached to watching their new QB not Andy Dalton.  I'm not sure why Nagy keeps insisting that Dalton gives him the best chance to win when the results of late would say just the opposite but it's is own hanging he may be planning.  IMHO he has a far better chance of surviving another .500 season behind Justin Fields than he will behind Andy Dalton yet he doesn't see it that way.

Edited August 26, 2021 by soulman

[dll2000]

5 hours ago, soulman said:

Training Camp Diary Ends: Season Approaches. I Feel Nothing.

Jeff Hughes | August 26th, 2021

---

We should all be pacing our living rooms, ordering our game-watch merch for the season, diagraming fool-proof end arounds in the condensation of our shower walls. This should be one of the more anticipatory three-week periods in the history of the Chicago Bears organization.

But it’s not that.

We should be talking to our friends, tanked in the tavern, caffeinated in the coffee shop, toweled in the Turkish bath, about how much fun it’s going to be to watch Aaron Donald try to track down Justin Fields in the backfield, only to see Fields run from the pressure and complete a ball twenty-five yards down the field.

But we won’t be doing any of that.

Instead, the fan energy and enthusiasm generated by Fields this summer – seeing a quarterback do things we have never seen one do in a Bears uniform – has been thoroughly extinguished in the short-term by his head coach mangling the position all summer long. Instead, on September 12th, we’ll be forced to sit through an entire slate of Sunday football action only to see Andy Dalton take the starter’s reins on Sunday night.

Trevor Lawrence is starting. Zach Wilson is starting. Kyle Shanahan has given Trey Lance starting reps since the first day of camp and has already made it clear Lance will be part of the game plan from day one. Hell, even Mac Jones looks like he has a chance to start, after being given competitive reps with Cam Newton all summer long.

But not Fields.

Of course not Fields.

Why? Because Matt Nagy says so, that’s why.

So it’ll be three weeks of wondering how badly Dalton has to play for the coach to make the change. It’ll be three weeks of wondering how many losses Nagy will require to put the future on the field. What if Dalton is what Dalton’s always been? What if he’s serviceable? What if the team lingers around .500 for 2-3 months? Does that mean Fields stays on the bench until December? Everyone seems convinced Fields will play quickly but what on earth has Nagy done this summer to suggest that possibility?

Fields will play eventually. We think. Meanwhile, training camp is over.

The season is 18 days away.

And I feel nothing.

Eat at Arby's.

[dll2000]

Bears fans while Dalton gets number 1 practice reps and plays:

 

[soulman]

Six Final Thoughts on 2021 Training Camp

Jeff Hughes | August 27th, 2021

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Camp is over. Here are some big picture thoughts.

(1) Listen, the quarterbacks were always gonna be the main characters but who could imagine the story would come directly from The Twilight Zone. Justin Fields was never given an opportunity to be the starting quarterback. The game was rigged, Nagy chose Andy Dalton from the start, and the Bears will begin the season irrelevant. When will Fields play? No one knows.

(2) The actual offensive line FINALLY got on the field. There was so much hemming and hawing about poor OL play in the early weeks of camp but the Bears rarely had more than two of their starters available. Amazing that it took until the final days (and the signing of Jason Peters) to get their starting five on the field at the same time. How will they perform as a unit? One of the sport’s best defensive fronts will let us know on the evening of September 12th.

(3) Few roster surprises. This camp was pretty dull when it comes to position battles, roster spots…etc. The Bears seemed to have their minds made up in July (Kindle Vildor was placed with the ones and left there) and little that happened on the practice field or in preseason games changed them.

(4) Alec Ogletree turned up one day and couldn’t stop intercepting the football. That production – and his energy – translated to his preseason debut, where Ogletree cemented his spot on the final 53-man roster. Don’t be surprised if he’s playing a major role in the middle of the defense this season.

(5) Matt Nagy said a lot of dumb things. Signing Peters had nothing to do with Teven Jenkins’ injury? It takes four years for your offense to produce in the NFL? Nagy’s inability to (a) tell the truth and (b) own his early-career failures did not win over a fanbase that already wants him to be sent packing at year’s end.

(6) They are healthy. Teven Jenkins won’t be a factor this season. Tarik Cohen is likely to take until November to find his legs. But, for the most part, the Bears will enter the 2021 season with their roster intact.

---

Note: I had penned an Is There Any Reason to Watch… column about the final preseason game but with Tennessee now facing a serious Covid outbreak, that game may not even happen. (The Bears would be crazy to take on that risk for a practice game.)  If it happens, enjoy the Riley Ridley drops!

Edited August 27, 2021 by soulman

[soulman]

1 hour ago, soulman said:

(5) Matt Nagy said a lot of dumb things. Signing Peters had nothing to do with Teven Jenkins’ injury? It takes four years for your offense to produce in the NFL? Nagy’s inability to (a) tell the truth and (b) own his early-career failures did not win over a fanbase that already wants him to be sent packing at year’s end.

This is most of why I find it hard to trust Matt Nagy any longer and continue to back him.  His pressers have become little more than misinformation sessions and excuses about whatever blank he needs to fill in that he's being questioned on.

That, added to his stubborn insistence on always doing it "his way" including still choosing to call plays over coaching his entire team on game day have left me feeling he's not the guy we need in the long haul.  His faults have outweighed his positives.

1 hour ago, soulman said:

(6) They are healthy. Teven Jenkins won’t be a factor this season. Tarik Cohen is likely to take until November to find his legs. But, for the most part, the Bears will enter the 2021 season with their roster intact.

Reasonably so but can they stay that way especially along the OL and at OLB/Edge.  It's tough to think that both Ifedi and Peters aren't gonna need a couple of games to get whatever mojo they may have back and get 100% into game shape and that's if they don't get injured again in the process and we still need to see Daniels bounce back and become a top OG again.

And Quinn needs to show he's not just here to collect his paychecks.  Like any smart vet he always says the right things but I've worked with a whole lot of people who are also very good at that then disappear come showtime.  I'm counting as much or more an Attaochu and at least one of the young guys; Gipson, Vaughter, Kamara, Snowden to contribute some pass rush pressure.

1 hour ago, soulman said:

Note: I had penned an Is There Any Reason to Watch… column about the final preseason game but with Tennessee now facing a serious Covid outbreak, that game may not even happen.

If there is any risk whatsoever of spreading infection the smart thing would be to either cancel or assure that any and all players who have either tested positive or been in close contact with someone who has remain quarantined from this game.  It's foolish not to.

Edited August 27, 2021 by soulman

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

I think Quinn is going to be one of Pace's biggest busts, but is going to be forgotten due to all the other personnel activity that's been around the team at the same time. 

 

If you're solidly in the start Fields camp, are you hoping the Titans have to pull a bunch of players and Fields lights it up, or are you hoping Fields avoids the chance of exposure and the resultant missing time?  Covid overlays such a bizarre set of risk decisions on life. It's been a year and a half, and its rocked my family, friends and industry and sometimes I wake up and wonder if I'm dreaming. 

[dll2000]

3 minutes ago, RunningVaccs said:

I think Quinn is going to be one of Pace's biggest busts, but is going to be forgotten due to all the other personnel activity that's been around the team at the same time. 

 

If you're solidly in the start Fields camp, are you hoping the Titans have to pull a bunch of players and Fields lights it up, or are you hoping Fields avoids the chance of exposure and the resultant missing time?  Covid overlays such a bizarre set of risk decisions on life. It's been a year and a half, and its rocked my family, friends and industry and sometimes I wake up and wonder if I'm dreaming. 

I don't care that much how Fields does.

My position is Fields is going to start soon was always going to start soon so why waste precious time focusing on getting Dalton ready to start?

Dalton should be another teacher/coach for Fields and taking 2nd team reps from jump.

Focus should have always been on making Fields best player possible as soon as possible.   Every quality practice rep should go to Fields.  

[soulman]

24 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

I don't care that much how Fields does.

My position is Fields is going to start soon was always going to start soon so why waste precious time focusing on getting Dalton ready to start?

Dalton should be another teacher/coach for Fields and taking 2nd team reps from jump.

Focus should have always been on making Fields best player possible as soon as possible.   Every quality practice rep should go to Fields.  

While I didn't start out that way and Dalton has reportedly looked good enough in camp it's his inability to create much offense during the two preseason games that should be a cause for concern to everyone.  Fields was never even in the running as far as being given an opportunity to compete for the #1 job so we'll need to see whether or not Nagy is right about the offense clicking once the show starts.  Doubts abound.

Whether Nagy realizes it or not should Dalton fail as badly as others have it may prove to be a final nail in Nagy's coffin or at least a knot in the noose he's risking a hanging on.  If yet another experienced vet can't operate his offense behind his play calling and it requires Fields legs and improvisations to rescue the offense what does that say about Nagy's base offensive schemes?  Seems we're right back to where we started.

I have no crystal ball so I'm not gonna make any predictions other than at least with Fields now on the roster the promise of more interesting football at least seems to have a good possibility.  I'm also gonna be curious to see how the defense responds under Desai.  They've dominated quite a bit in camp but is that them being that good or our offense once again being that bad?  Lot's of still unanswered questions.

[dll2000]

48 minutes ago, soulman said:

While I didn't start out that way and Dalton has reportedly looked good enough in camp it's his inability to create much offense during the two preseason games that should be a cause for concern to everyone.  Fields was never even in the running as far as being given an opportunity to compete for the #1 job so we'll need to see whether or not Nagy is right about the offense clicking once the show starts.  Doubts abound.

Whether Nagy realizes it or not should Dalton fail as badly as others have it may prove to be a final nail in Nagy's coffin or at least a knot in the noose he's risking a hanging on.  If yet another experienced vet can't operate his offense behind his play calling and it requires Fields legs and improvisations to rescue the offense what does that say about Nagy's base offensive schemes?  Seems we're right back to where we started.

I have no crystal ball so I'm not gonna make any predictions other than at least with Fields now on the roster the promise of more interesting football at least seems to have a good possibility.  I'm also gonna be curious to see how the defense responds under Desai.  They've dominated quite a bit in camp but is that them being that good or our offense once again being that bad?  Lot's of still unanswered questions.

What do you think Chicago mood will be for home game if Bears lose and offense doesn't play well?

 

 

[soulman]

24 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

What do you think Chicago mood will be for home game if Bears lose and offense doesn't play well?

 

 

Ha ha.....you gotta ask?

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

26 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

What do you think Chicago mood will be for home game if Bears lose and offense doesn't play well?

 

 

Dour.  It'll feel like watching an F1 team with 3 tires. 

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

28 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

What do you think Chicago mood will be for home game if Bears lose and offense doesn't play well?