Outcoach, Outplayed, Out Classed, Out of Patience......

[soulman]

 

Matt Nagy, Bears coaches and players blow an opportunity to end their losing streak in an ugly game

By Kevin Fishbain Nov 21, 2021 102

The Ravens came into Soldier Field without Lamar Jackson and three other starters and with a backup quarterback who went undrafted last year and had only 16 pass attempts to his name.

The Bears were missing key players, too, but they were returning from a bye week and coming off their best half of offensive football this season.

If anyone needed a reminder that the Ravens have won two Super Bowls this century and have gone to the playoffs 13 times while the Bears have made the postseason six times in the same span and haven’t won a Super Bowl in 36 years, Sunday’s game provided it.

It was the Ravens who led 6-0 at halftime. It was the Ravens’ quarterback, Tyler Huntley, who led a winning drive. It was the Ravens who won 16-13 and left Chicago with a 7-3 record while the Bears fell to 3-7.

“Obviously it is unfortunate to lose the game that way we did back-to-back weeks like that,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “The guys are battling, but in the end, we’re not finishing.”

Unfortunately for Nagy, this wasn’t a game to boost his resume. This was a golden opportunity for Nagy, Bill Lazor, Sean Desai, Chris Tabor and the rest of the coaching staff to end the post-bye drought and put a stop to the losing streak. They were getting the Ravens at the perfect time, and they had extra days to prepare.

Instead, the game was riddled with mistakes and odd calls.

Patrick Mannelly

 

@PatrickMannelly

 

Outcoached. #Bears

 

12:18 PM · Nov 21, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

 

• On the first drive, the Bears got in a groove. Justin Fields made an outstanding throw to Darnell Mooney. The offense got down to the 16-yard line and faced a third-and-5 when the call was for a toss to David Montgomery.

He was stopped for a loss of 6 yards.

“I’ll have to look at the tape, but right there you could look at that and say, well, you throw the ball, you stay a little bit more aggressive,” Nagy said. “But that’s where we were, that’s the choice that we went with.”

With a quarterback as dynamic as Fields, it seemed like an opportunity to keep the ball in his hands, especially against one of the league’s worst pass defenses and best run defenses. Instead, the line of scrimmage was pushed back 6 yards, and Cairo Santos missed a field goal.

• As the first half came to an end, the Bears had zero points, shut out by halftime for the first time this season. Fields was 3-for-9 passing for only 57 yards against a defense giving up 7.70 yards per pass. The offense was out of sync and didn’t take advantage of having the ball to end the second quarter.

In fact, after punting, it took the Ravens only 1:05 to get into field goal range to go up 6-0.

“They’re a good defense and they’re going to present different things to us, and I think we had 17 plays before the two-minute warning,” Nagy said. “So we had four total drives. Seventeen plays, it’s hard to get in a rhythm, and it starts with that first drive. We got down there and we ended up missing that field goal. … But just rhythm-wise, we weren’t getting into that.”

According to Football Outsiders, the Ravens defense ranks 25th in the NFL per DVOA. During that first half, the Bears never called a designed rollout for Fields, and the tight ends had zero targets.

• On the first play after halftime, Cole Kmet was flagged for a false start, yet another example of dysfunction on the offensive side. Fields did complete a 22-yard pass to Darnell Mooney on third-and-11, but the drive stalled, and Fields left the game with an injury to his ribs.

• Andy Dalton sparked the offense in two plays, but his next drive was a reminder that he isn’t the answer. He threw behind Jimmy Graham and then behind Mooney. Larry Borom was called for a false start. On third down, Dalton missed on his pass to Marquise Goodwin, and the quarterback seemed frustrated. Another miscommunication after Fields and Mooney had one of their own in the first half.

Again, this was a team coming off a bye and its best half of offense.

• No sequence demonstrated a lack of cohesion more than what happened at the start of the fourth quarter.

On third-and-1, the Bears called a shot play from Dalton to Mooney. Mooney caught it but couldn’t stay in bounds. The ball was at Chicago’s 49-yard line.

The punt team came on, but then Nagy’s headset went out. He frantically went to get it fixed while the offense went to the bench. Dalton had even taken his helmet off and switched to a ballcap.

When Nagy got back on the headset, he called a timeout, took the punt team off the field and sent the offense back on.

“My headset went out completely right at that point,” Nagy said. “I thought I was talking to the guys, and I wasn’t. At that point you don’t have a play, you don’t know what you’re going to. So Tabor’s down there with me as the special-teams coordinator. So I was basically playing the field position to punt the ball. But then once I was able to get it back and know what we wanted to do, we got aggressive there and went for it.”

It’s odd that Nagy and Tabor couldn’t sort through that even with the headset malfunctioning. The head coach had to use a timeout.

What came next could appear on a blooper reel. The Bears had a play that Nagy said they had set up for a fourth-and-short “all week long.” David Montgomery lined up in the wildcat and was stuffed for no gain. Even if he had gotten it, James Daniels was called for holding.

A comedy of errors.

• Tashaun Gipson’s interception bailed out the offense and the coaching staff, keeping the Ravens off the board, but the Bears responded by going three-and-out.

Then came a 28-yard punt, which led to a Justin Tucker field goal, and the Bears trailed again.

• The clock was stopped with 1:48 to go after an incomplete pass from Dalton to Mooney, yet Nagy called a timeout.

“That’s a crucial down-and-distance to make sure you’re 100 percent ready for what you need,” he said.

Based on the play clock, they might have rushed a play, so the timeout probably helped get the offense in better position, but after an incomplete pass, the play clock shouldn’t have been a factor. They should have been ready.

After the timeout, Jason Peters was called for a false start. How does that continually happen to this team?

• Dalton’s touchdown pass to Goodwin thereafter seemed fitting for all the weirdness that was going on. It didn’t nullify all that happened prior, but it could’ve led this story. It could’ve been what everyone talked about leading up to Thanksgiving.

 

Bears wide receiver Marquise Goodwin catches a 49-yard touchdown pass. (Dennis Wierzbicki / USA Today)

The touchdown put the Bears up 13-9. It seemed sensible to go for two at that moment. If the Ravens have one last shot, it doesn’t matter if you’re up by four points or five points. As automatic as Tucker is, being up six points at least makes things interesting if they’re to score a touchdown.

Yet the kicking team took the field for the extra point. Nagy had to call the Bears’ third and final timeout to send the offense back on the field.

More confusion.

“We’re at a point where you have the celebrations, you have the guys going back and forth,” he said. “And also knowing you’re up those four points where we were. You want to be able to make sure you have everything you need personnel-wise and going for it, etc. There was also the penalty. Do you move it half the distance, make it from the 1? Do you use it on a kickoff? So there was a lot of stuff going on at that point. So that’s why we used it, to be able to make it a six-point game.”

Football coaches are notoriously detailed. How it wasn’t evident that the Bears would go for two no matter what leading into that drive is startling.

• The final errors came on defense — Kindle Vildor’s pass-interference penalty, giving up a 21-yard pass to Devin Duvernay, then a coverage breakdown that left Sammy Watkins wide open at the 3-yard line on third-and-13.

“Well, it’s sickening,” Robert Quinn said. “I’ll just put it that way. It’s a punch to the gut. We had the lead. The Ravens had the ball, it was on the defense to close it out and we didn’t do that. Yeah, it’s a gut punch.”

• The Bears got the ball back with 22 seconds left and zero timeouts. They couldn’t stop the clock because they used three timeouts earlier, none of which was used to stop the clock. Dalton was sacked on the final play of the game.

For the fourth time in the past five seasons, the Bears returned from a bye week and lost to a team’s backup quarterback. Brett Hundley did it in 2017 with the Packers, then Brock Osweiler in 2018 with the Dolphins and Teddy Bridgewater in 2019 with the Saints. This is the third time it’s happened at home.

The Bears have lost five in a row in back-to-back seasons. They haven’t won after the bye week since 2013. They’ve lost eight of their past nine games in the underdog role.

Regardless of his approval rating in town, this was still a moment for Nagy to prove himself to his bosses, same for Lazor as the play caller. It was an opportunity to unleash Fields on an undermanned Ravens defense that had given up the third-most 20-plus-yard pass plays this season.

That didn’t happen.

This was Desai’s defense’s chance to move past the terrible second half against the 49ers and the bad final drive in Pittsburgh and take advantage of an inexperienced opposing quarterback.

It happened here and there for most of the game but failed at the most critical moment.

All George McCaskey has to do as he evaluates his staff is watch this game again. It speaks for itself in the deficiencies on display, from the personnel to the coaching decisions. Or he can simply watch the fourth-and-1 debacle over and over again.

Maintaining the status quo, as alluring as it often is to the Bears’ decision-makers, is a lot harder to defend after a loss like this.

Use link to hear Hoge and Jahns Podcast; https://theathletic.com/2969920/2021/11/21/matt-nagy-bears-coaches-and-players-blow-an-opportunity-to-end-their-losing-streak-in-an-ugly-game/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983

(Top photo of Justin Fields: Robin Alam / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Edited November 22, 2021 by soulman

[soulman]

Listen to this Podcast when you have a chance.  As Hoge and Jahns review coaching decisions we can all see just how much Nagy is still trying to micro manage every offensive play call.  He calls a time out when his headset goes out because he says he didn't know the play call?????  But then he says they had that play call in all week.  They practiced it.  It was in the game plan for that down and distance.

So if that was to be the play call why the time out when he couldn't talk with Lazor because his headset failed?  So he sends out the punt team then recalls them once he gets his headset fixed and he can confirm the play call.  Why?  It was already set to be called.  Did he not trust Lazor to make the correct call?  Apparently, so he panicked and burned a time out and we still didn't convert.

Same on the two point conversion.  If that had been decided prior to even scoring the go ahead TD why was the FG team sent out to kick?  Then Nagy burns another timeout getting his offense back out for a two point try that also failed plus he accepts a 15 yard penalty that gains them just one yard then calls a pass play rather than trusting Monty to make it on a one yard run.  Why?  Because his stupid wildcat call had failed?

If there is a worse game day coach than  Matt Nagy I don't know who he is.  As badly as we played better coaching decisions all around may have saved the game but with Nagy it's always chaos because he's an indecisive micro manager during games.  When I see the way the defense was aligned prior to that pass to Watkins THAT would have been a place to call a time out too but we didn't have any left.

Just fire his *** as soon as possible.  SF will be full of Fire Nagy and Nagy Sucks chants during every home game that's left to play.

 

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

50 minutes ago, soulman said:

Listen to this Podcast when you have a chance.  As Hoge and Jahns review coaching decisions we can all see just how much Nagy is still trying to micro manage every offensive play call.  He calls a time out when his headset goes out because he says he didn't know the play call?????  But then he says they had that play call in all week.  They practiced it.  It was in the game plan for that down and distance.

So if that was to be the play call why the time out when he couldn't talk with Lazor because his headset failed?  So he sends out the punt team then recalls them once he gets his headset fixed and he can confirm the play call.  Why?  It was already set to be called.  Did he not trust Lazor to make the correct call?  Apparently, so he panicked and burned a time out and we still didn't convert.

Same on the two point conversion.  If that had been decided prior to even scoring the go ahead TD why was the FG team sent out to kick?  Then Nagy burns another timeout getting his offense back out for a two point try that also failed plus he accepts a 15 yard penalty that gains them just one yard then calls a pass play rather than trusting Monty to make it on a one yard run.  Why?  Because his stupid wildcat call had failed?

If there is a worse game day coach than  Matt Nagy I don't know who he is.  As badly as we played better coaching decisions all around may have saved the game but with Nagy it's always chaos because he's an indecisive micro manager during games.  When I see the way the defense was aligned prior to that pass to Watkins THAT would have been a place to call a time out too but we didn't have any left.

Just fire his *** as soon as possible.  SF will be full of Fire Nagy and Nagy Sucks chants during every home game that's left to play.

 

100%

Yesterday was the perfect game to illustrate how badly prepared the Bears are.  They seem sloppy before the snap, lots of busted coverages and wrong-routes, and the coaching never seems ready for the obvious calls.  Watched the game in our yard with friends and one of the kids playing in the alley (some weird game involving bikes, basketballs and logs) was overheard yelling "why would you call a time out there???" so clearly overheard us lamenting the weirdness of the way Nagy ran that game. 

[soulman]

4 minutes ago, RunningVaccs said:

100%

Yesterday was the perfect game to illustrate how badly prepared the Bears are.  They seem sloppy before the snap, lots of busted coverages and wrong-routes, and the coaching never seems ready for the obvious calls.  Watched the game in our yard with friends and one of the kids playing in the alley (some weird game involving bikes, basketballs and logs) was overheard yelling "why would you call a time out there???" so clearly overheard us lamenting the weirdness of the way Nagy ran that game. 

Like I said, he won't give up control.  Least of all not now when every game brings him one step closer to being unemployed and maybe having to go back to selling real estate.  I can't imagine any NFL team ever hiring him as their OC again.  He is certain proof that "The Peter Principle" is still very much alive.

Some of us have worked around guys like him.  The minute they lose focus they panic and begin shouting orders most of which tend to conflict with other orders or with a predetermined way of doing things that was set in stone just to avoid panic decisions.  All of that goes out the window when Nagy starts sweating.

Then we have the post game presser where he tries to answer questions about his stupid decisions and he really can't do it honestly because deep down inside even he knows now that the fog has lifted they were stupid decisions.  So he riffs about chaos or something peripheral just to have some way of responding without admitting he's a bonehead.

Yeah Matt, they were celebrating what should have been a winning TD.  So you rein them back in and get them focused on 2 pt conversion but no, wait, what's the FG unit doing out there.  Oh hell, gotta use up my last time out now to straighten this out.  Imagine hiring Matt Nagy to run your widget manufacturing company.  On second thought don't.  It's too brutal.

Matt Nagy is a nice guy.  A good family man.  But I've had to fire nice guys before.  This is how you do it.  Matt, take a seat.  Look you are one hell of a great guy and people really like you.  But we're trying to win football games here and well, you just don't seem to have good handle on how to do that, so I have to let you go.

He has one more year left on his contract so that's a very decent severage deal for him and keeps food on the table and a roof over his families head 'til he gets hired on some other place.  Nice guy or not Matt Nagy is not who we thought he was.  Not even close.  There nothing left to evaluate.  It's time to close the book on him and move on.

[Heinz D.]

8 hours ago, soulman said:

He has one more year left on his contract so that's a very decent severage deal for him and keeps food on the table and a roof over his families head 'til he gets hired on some other place.  Nice guy or not Matt Nagy is not who we thought he was.  Not even close.  There nothing left to evaluate.  It's time to close the book on him and move on.

[Heinz D.]

I think the only way that Nagy has any sort of NFL-related job in the future (provided Spurious George doesn't keep Nagy around, give him an extension)...is televison.

That's the only thing Nagy seems able to do. I mean, once he's jettisoned, his constant lying and bull**** will be put to the wayside. 

He can interact with the camera, though. That's pretty clear. Even if he's lying when he does it...he still gets it done. 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Heinz D.