Hub Arkush: More is wrong with Bears' offense than Trubisky
By Hub ArkushPro Football Weekly
CHICAGO — The idea that the problems with the Chicago Bears offense all start and stop with quarterback Mitch Trubisky are quite simply dead wrong.
Has Trubisky disappointed and taken a big step backward in his NFL development?
Absolutely, and it is fair to question his future in the league.
Is the main problem the way that Matt Nagy has handled his development and coached him up?
We just don't get to see enough of what's going on behind the scenes to assume with any certainty it is.
We we also can't throw any bouquets at the head coach for his play calling so far this season, but much like his young quarterback he didn't get the Bears into this mess all by himself.
The fat lady isn't singing for Trubisky or Nagy yet, and she shouldn't be.
The biggest problems with the Bears offense in 2019 are that they might as well be lining up 10 vs. 11 on every play for all they've gotten out of the tight end position, and a close second has been the disappointing play of the entire offensive line.
What has made similar offenses to Nagy's from mentors Andy Reid in Kansas City and Doug Pederson in Philadelphia among the more dangerous in the league?
The Chiefs Y tight end Travis Kelce is the best in the NFL and Philly's Y, Zach Ertz is the best in the NFC.
The Y tight end is your starter, hopefully on the field close to 60 minutes and equally adept as a blocker in the run game and receiving threat in the passing game as opposed to the U tight end who is primarily a receiver.
When asked Monday about the importance of the position in his offense, Nagy answered, "You hit a great point there.
"That's a position right there that — you know, we always talk about the U position, but there is some significance there to the Y position. So we're kind of working through a little bit of that.
"You have to maneuver some things on what you want to do. It makes it a little bit more challenging, but that's where we're at."
When Kelce or Ertz are on the field opposing defenses have no idea whether a run or a pass is coming and are forced to play everything straight up rather than being able to stack to stop one or the other.
Look at the Bears' personnel packages and you can almost guess right on run or pass every time, depending on who's out there.
The offensive line also has regressed throughout the season. On the heels of an awful performance against the Lions who came into Chicago with one of the weakest defensive fronts in the league, I asked Nagy Monday how his front five looked against the Rams.
"I'll start with this: We were going against a pretty good front; 99 (Aaron Donald) is special," Nagy said. "That said, I do believe at times there was some leakage, whether it was in pass pro, in the run game a couple times where we could have held the point a little bit longer overall."
So what Trubisky and Nagy are forced to overcome before the ball is even snapped is a defense with a pretty good idea of what they're going to do based on the tight ends on the field, a Y who probably isn't going to help as a receiver taking away between 20% and 60% of your options, depending on what the rest of the personnel package is, and an offensive line that has been awful blocking the run, and is going to give you a second or even two less than you need to let pass plays develop a big chunk of the time.
Blame Trubisky's play and Nagy's play calls all you want, but I need to see what they can do with even just an average ground game, a legit No. 1 tight end and some real upgrades at left tackle and right guard before I'm willing to write either one off.
At the moment, both are playing with one hand tied behind their backs. How fair is that?
Hub Arkush is executive editor of Pro Football Weekly.