NEWSLETTER
This offseason has been littered with moments in which players have revealed Matt Nagy’s most ridiculous missteps.
Mitchell Trubisky shared how Nagy was all about tailoring his game plan to his playbook and not the players he had at his disposal. Jaylon Johnson has been open in talking about how the new coaches are stressing accountability. And Darnell Mooney gave us perspective as to what it looks like when an offense makes sense. Then provided another anecdote about what a functional team is run.
All of that has been eye-opening. But this reveal might be the most egregious misstep of the Nagy era:
Of all the damning things we’ve learned about Nagy’s offense since his firing in January, this might be the worse. How are you not practicing scramble drills? Better yet, how is it not a staple of your practices when you have a mobile quarterback? Justin Fields’ biggest strength was playmaking on the move. How were scramble drills not a key piece of practices? Heck, teams should be practicing this even if they’re employing a traditional pocket passer. Considering the Bears’ protection issues on the line and receivers’ inability to create separation, scramble drills should’ve been a bigger part of the team’s practice regimen. That it wasn’t represents an enormous bit over oversight when it comes to Nagy’s coaching philosophy.
With each day that passes, I find myself more thankful that Nagy is gone. Don’t get me wrong. That 2018 season was magical and is the most fun I’ve had as a fan since the Super Bowl XLI season. But as we collect more input shedding light on the past regime’s failures, it makes me wonder if they should’ve pulled the plug sooner.
