NEWSLETTER
There has been a certain amount of hype surrounding the potential of the Chicago Bears’ offense. With the No. 2 overall pick from the 2017 NFL Draft under center and a head coach who promised an offense that would bring Chicago into the new millennium, it was easy to dream about better days being on the horizon.
But through three games, Mitch Trubisky hasn’t performed as one would expect the first quarterback of his draft class to do. And Matt Nagy’s offense has produced just four offensive touchdowns in three games. Perhaps with that in mind, the Bears seem prepared to enter Week 4 against the Buccaneers with a scaled-back offense.
For Nagy, it starts with getting the little things right.
“So, there’s some common sense to it of knowing that it’s going to take a little time, but then there’s some, ‘Hey, let’s start doing the little things the right way, the details,'” Nagy said, via JJ Stankevitz of NBC Sports Chicago. “And let’s make sure that we as coaches are pitting these players in the best position possible.”
And when speaking with the media at Halas Hall earlier in the week, Offensive Coordinator Mark Helfrich offered up his thoughts on simplification:
Helfrich: “We just need to make the routine plays.”
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 27, 2018
Nagy and Trubisky have both often talked about the concept of playing fast, which is something Trubisky hasn’t done often enough this season. It’s possible that simplifying things allows Trubisky to play faster and pulling back on a voluminous playbook could allow for the Bears quarterback to dial in on the plays he has mastered. There are plenty of examples of how a pared-down playbook has helped a young quarterback’s growth. And as John Fox was always quick to remind us in recent years, there’s more than just one way to skin a cat.
There are times when Trubisky appears overwhelmed in the offense. Maybe it’s the weight of great expectations now that the Bears have a Khalil Mack-led championship caliber defense. Perhaps it’s that the other two first-round quarterbacks from the class of 2017 have out-played Trubisky to this point. But in either case, the Bears have to understand the pressure their quarterback is under and that in order to succeed, they’ll need to release it before it backfires and works against them.
