Nagy on giving up play calling: 'Everything’s on the table' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
In the NFL, you’ve got to have a short-term memory. Year-to-year, week-to-week, even play-to-play, players and coaches alike always talk about moving on from the past and looking forward. But on a Monday like today, after a Sunday like yesterday, it’s impossible for the Bears not to have a bad taste left in their mouths.
“We’re all very frustrated and angry,” Matt Nagy said. “But it’s about solutions now and we gotta do it and that’s gonna be my job as the head coach. I need to do that and it starts with me.”
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Could part of that search for solutions on offense include a change in playcaller?
“Just to keep it super simple, everything’s on the table,” Nagy said. “And I think that’s probably the easiest way to put it— the evaluation part, everything.”
If you recall, the Bears were in a similar situation last year. The Bears offense was completely stagnant for several weeks, so Nagy handed over the play sheet to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. There was a noticeable change and the Bears started putting points on the board.
But then Nagy took playcalling duties back. And here we are again.
So how will this evaluation of the offense, and of himself as the man behind the offense, be different this time?
“I don’t know, we’ll see,” Nagy said. “For me, I think what we realize and understand is, yesterday, you can’t have that. We understand that. It’s common sense. Yesterday was frustrating on a lot of different levels. And I say that not for one particular person or two or three, but across the board. That was hard… It’s not fun because of the care we all have for this, the want that we have to be great.
“If you are honest with yourself, you’re honest with your players一 and sometimes there’s tough conversations. I do feel like, for me, one of my greatest strengths is being able to be honest with coaches and players. And if I think somebody’s not一 I can accept it too. They’ll tell you, if I think a coach needs to be better, I’ll tell him that. If I tell a player they need to be better, I’ll tell them that. But they also know it’s reciprocated. They can do that with me too. There’s a trust there. That’s kind of where we’re at. And in the end, it’s about finding the solutions and not being negative about it.”
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