Chicago Bears (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
As the Chicago Bears met with the media on Tuesday, head coach Matt Nagy made it clear 2020 was going to be different.
If you watched the Chicago Bears press conferences on Tuesday, there seemed to be something different regarding head coach Matt Nagy. Unlike 2019, where Nagy seemed upset over the Bears playoff exit at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles, on Tuesday, it seemed like Nagy was optimistic for the Bears future.
Despite being asked a variety of questions, it seemed like Nagy has also done some self-reflection over the last eight weeks. Since the end-of-season press conference in early-January, Nagy has made changes to his coaching staff and while he’ll still be calling plays in 2020, seems like he’s ready to give more responsibilities to his assistants.
This is significant since in 2019, Nagy ran the show and everything started and ended with him. However, upon hiring Bill Lazor and John DeFilippo as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach this offseason, he’s got one goal in mind: Fix the offense and fix Mitchell Trubisky.
While many do not want to see Trubisky starting in 2020, Nagy will roll with him in week one and for a good reason too. He took the Bears job two years ago knowing that he would need to develop Trubisky and turn him into the Bears franchise quarterback.
Besides Trubisky, Nagy has hired assistants that will be in charge of figuring out what was wrong with the offensive line and getting the running game back on track. The Bears backfield in 2020 is expected to be headlined by Tarik Cohen and David Montgomery, with Montgomery being a featured running back.
Too often in 2019 did Nagy and the Bears abandon the run early in hopes of Trubisky carrying the offense with a pass-first philosophy. While this succeeded a few times, it wasn’t enough to get the Bears to the playoffs.
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With 2019 now in the rearview mirror, Nagy seems like he’s ready to take a different approach to his football team. While he’s still establishing his identity for what he wants the Bears to be, he’s going into 2020 knowing that he could be on the hot seat if expectations aren’t met.
A lot will change between now and the beginning of the 2020 regular season but for now, Nagy seems to have turned a new leaf. But even then, he’ll have to show it for people to believe it.