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Count former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky among those who have had enough of Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy.
Orlovsky was active for 12 seasons in the NFL, from 2005-17, spending the bulk of his time with the Detroit Lions. Now an analyst for ESPN, Orlovsky has been critical of Nagy in the past for his handling of former QB Mitch Trubisky, and now he’s calling for Nagy to be fired after putting together one of the worst offensive performances in recent memory. Literally.
In a 26-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns on September 26, the Bears averaged just 1.1 yards per play and the offense gained just 47 yards, the second-lowest net total of all-time for the franchise. Rookie QB Justin Fields was sacked nine times, and while he made plenty of mistakes, the primary of which was holding onto the ball too long, Nagy was panned in a big way after the loss to Cleveland, with numerous fans and analysts calling for his immediate dismissal.
Orlovsky was among them, saying Nagy’s performance felt “purposeful,” and he expounded further the next day on ESPN’s “Get Up.”
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Orlovsky: Nagy’s Game Plan Either ‘Negligence or Intentional’
“The Chicago Bears should fire Matt Nagy today, because yesterday’s game plan, which was the worst one I’ve ever seen in my life, was either negligence or intentional,” Orlovsky said on the September 27 episode of “Get Up.”
“It’s been 149 days since the Bears drafted Justin Fields. You had 149 days to start to build a game plan around the skill set of this young man, and it was an embarrassment,” Orlovsky continued, directing his rant at Nagy.
“Justin Fields threw the ball 20 times yesterday. Thirteen times they went with five man protection with no help for their offensive line. 13 out of 20. Yesterday you showed us that you were either incapable of designing the proper game plan around a dynamic quarterback, or you showed us that it was intentional, that you wanted him to fail, and you set him up to be a disaster. … That is negligent. That is dumb. That is stupid.”
It’s highly unlikely Nagy was trying to get Fields to fail — these are professionals, after all — but Nagy has yet to prove he’s capable of designing an offensive game plan that works, so Orlovsky has a point there.
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Orlovsky Had Perfect Analogy for Nagy’s Handling of Young QBs
Orlovsky also bashed Nagy for his inability to tailor his offense around Fields, who the team traded up to draft this year. “From the moment you drafted Justin Fields, you should have been designing all these game plans,” he said, adding he doesn’t want to hear anything about Fields not ready to play.
“Don’t tell me he’s not ready. It’s your freaking job to get him ready,” Orlovsky said. The former Lions QB then made a solid analogy, saying that watching Nagy mishandle Fields was like watching the “same horror movie” twice — the first viewing being Nagy’s (mis)use of Trubisky.
It’s outlandish to suggest Nagy might be purposeful in his mishandling of his QBs, though, particularly considering the Bears coach is in his fourth season and is still putting up numbers like this:
Thus, all signs point to sheer incompetence, or a resistance to change, neither of which bode well for Nagy — or for the team’s 2021 season.
You can watch Orlovsky’s rant about Nagy below:
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