The Bears have hired former Kansas City offensive coordinator Matt Nagy as their head coach. The 39-year-old replaces John Fox, and you wonder if Chicago isn't thinking it's landed the next Sean McVay, who replaced another NFL dinosaur in Jeff Fisher and quickly turned the Rams around.
Apparently, Nagy was a fan of Mitchell Trubisky last offseason, and now he'll get to work with him in Chicago. Based on the way the two offenses operated last year, it will be a huge change for Trubisky.
Last season, the Bears passed the ball less often than any other team; last in pass attempts. Not surprisingly, they were also last in passing yards per game -- just 193 yards per game. Last in touchdown passes, too. Kansas City, in contrast, ranked 7th in passing, was 15 spots higher in attempts, and threw twice as many touchdowns. They passed far more often (to a fault, at times, as the loss to Tennessee on Saturday made clear).
In any case, Trubisky should be busier next season, while Jordan Howard should be less busy. That's the snap reaction to this hire.
NFL PASSING, 2017 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | Comp | Att | Yds/G | Rk | TD |
New England Patriots | 389 | 587 | 289 | 1 | 32 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 378 | 605 | 288 | 2 | 26 |
Los Angeles Chargers | 366 | 583 | 284 | 3 | 28 |
Pittsburgh Steelers | 384 | 590 | 283 | 4 | 29 |
Detroit Lions | 374 | 570 | 279 | 5 | 29 |
New Orleans Saints | 386 | 536 | 271 | 6 | 23 |
Kansas City | 363 | 543 | 270 | 7 | 26 |
San Francisco 49ers | 362 | 607 | 265 | 8 | 15 |
Atlanta Falcons | 343 | 530 | 259 | 9 | 21 |
Washington | 347 | 540 | 256 | 10 | 27 |
Los Angeles Rams | 320 | 518 | 252 | 11 | 28 |
Seattle Seahawks | 340 | 555 | 249 | 12 | 34 |
Arizona Cardinals | 339 | 598 | 249 | 13 | 21 |
Philadelphia Eagles | 341 | 564 | 248 | 14 | 38 |
Minnesota Vikings | 357 | 527 | 246 | 15 | 25 |
Miami Dolphins | 373 | 602 | 237 | 16 | 24 |
Oakland Raiders | 347 | 558 | 235 | 17 | 23 |
Jacksonville Jaguars | 316 | 527 | 232 | 18 | 21 |
New York Giants | 373 | 608 | 230 | 19 | 20 |
Denver Broncos | 332 | 566 | 229 | 20 | 19 |
Houston Texans | 299 | 525 | 228 | 21 | 28 |
Cleveland Browns | 312 | 574 | 221 | 22 | 15 |
Green Bay Packers | 352 | 562 | 221 | 23 | 25 |
New York Jets | 323 | 510 | 219 | 24 | 19 |
Tennessee Titans | 306 | 496 | 212 | 25 | 14 |
Cincinnati Bengals | 304 | 510 | 212 | 26 | 25 |
Dallas Cowboys | 309 | 493 | 208 | 27 | 22 |
Carolina Panthers | 293 | 501 | 207 | 28 | 22 |
Baltimore Ravens | 363 | 567 | 202 | 29 | 20 |
Indianapolis Colts | 285 | 487 | 202 | 30 | 13 |
Buffalo Bills | 289 | 476 | 193 | 31 | 16 |
Chicago Bears | 291 | 473 | 193 | 32 | 13 |
--Andy Richardson