Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy has come under fire for his team’s offensive woes, and with good reason. The Bears are 29th in total offense, 29th in points scored, and last in the NFL in rushing. With the Bears starting the season 5-1 and since losing three straight, Nagy’s seat has gotten a tad hot despite the likelihood he’s not going anywhere. Lately, the question of the day has been whether or not he will relinquish play-calling duties, and Friday afternoon, he finally answered that question directly.
When meeting with the media, Nagy told reporters he would be handing play-calling duties off to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. “I’m excited to let Bill take this over. It’s something that we all decided together. I think it shows the belief that I have and we have in the coaching staff,” Nagy said.
Nagy: “I’m excited to let Bill take this over. It’s something that we all decided together. I think it shows the belief that I have and we have in the coaching staff.”
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Nagy Had Been Mum About Whether He’d Continue Calling Plays
After the Bears lost their third straight to the Tennessee Titans last Sunday, Nagy was asked whether he’d continue calling plays, and he was extremely vague about it.
“I’m looking at all that right now,” he said Sunday. “I meant what I said yesterday. When we’re where we’re at right now as an offense, and struggling the way we are, you have to be able to look at everything, including myself. So we’ll see where that goes. We play Monday and we will make the best decision possible here. I think that that’s a part of some of the decisions that we look at, for sure.”
When he was asked Monday if he would be the one calling plays for the team’s upcoming Monday night game against the Minnesota Vikings, he echoed his previous sentiments:
“I don’t know. And in all honesty, with all due respect, if anything was to happen I’m not sure that you guys would know. So that’s where that’s at. I think you can understand that part.”
Now, less than a week later, the Bears head coach has taken a big step in setting his ego aside for the betterment of the team. Whether it helps this offense remains to be seen.
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Bill Lazor: What’s His Play-Calling Experience?
Lazor has called plays for two different teams. He was the OC for the Miami Dolphins for the 2014-15 season, and for the Cincinnati Bengals for two years in 2017-18, calling plays for each team during that time. While his experience running an offense isn’t extensive, he still has more experience than Nagy, as he also served as offensive coordinator for Virginia and Buffalo in his career.
While it’s a good sign to see Nagy give play-calling duties to someone else, the plays being called are still coming from his system, so it will be interesting to see how much — if any — impact this will have on Chicago’s offense. While Nagy wouldn’t call the switch to Lazor a permanent one, he did suggest Lazor would have free rein over the offense, so hang tight, Bears fans. The ride is about to take another turn, and we don’t quite know where we’re going — at least not yet.
Matt Nagy stops short of calling the decision to let Bill Lazor call plays permanent. Lazor calls plays vs. Vikings and then Bears have the bye week to re-evaluate.
Matt Nagy said of new Bears play-caller Bill Lazor: “This is Bill’s opportunity to do what he wants to do and call what he wants to call.”
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Bears HC Matt Nagy Gives Play-Calling Update: Report