Nagy vows to change his approach to preseason.
May 27, 2020 6:46:11 GMT -6
riczaj01 and malagabears like this
Post by JABF on May 27, 2020 6:46:11 GMT -6
He says he made a huge mistake not letting the starters get reps in the preseason last year. Yes, players will get injured in preseason games (or in practice for that matter). But players do need practice and preseason before playing in games that matter in the regular season.
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If there's one decision that Bears coach Matt Nagy definitely seems to regret from 2019, it's the fact that he decided to bench his starters for the entire preseason last year.
During the 2019 preseason, Nagy kept most of his starters on the bench, which was a decision that seemed to backfire almost immediately. With no preseason snaps under their belt, the Bears offense floundered through the first few weeks of the regular season.
After watching that nightmare unfold last year, Nagy has decided he won't be making the same mistake again.
"As we talk, that's one of the things that I look back at from last year that I'm not happy about that I made a decision to do in the preseason," Nagy said of benching his starters on the Waddle & Silvy Show, via NBC Sports Chicago. "No. 1, I think it's good for them to have it, but No. 2 it sets the mentality. So that's not going to happen this year."
Nagy seemed to think that the extra rest might help his offense, but instead, it just looked rusty. Not only did the Bears score just three points in Week 1, but their offense only averaged 14.75 points over the first four weeks of the season. Only the Bengals, Jets and Dolphins were worse over those first four games.
At the time, Nagy's reasoning for benching his starters in the preseason was simple: The Bears coach didn't think 30 extra snaps in a few meaningless games would be more important than the thousands of snaps the starters were going to get in training camp.
"I hear it, but I don't believe it right now in regards to where we're at," Nagy said last year about the criticism of benching his starters. "We're at almost 2,000 snaps right now in practice. Team snaps and OTAs 'til now we're at 2,000 snaps. And so for somebody to tell me that 25 to 30 reps [in a preseason game] is going to go ahead and make him a better player Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 is ... it's not going to happen."
Spoiler alert: It did happen, and now Nagy has changed his mind on what the best course of action his team in the preseason.
If there's one decision that Bears coach Matt Nagy definitely seems to regret from 2019, it's the fact that he decided to bench his starters for the entire preseason last year.
During the 2019 preseason, Nagy kept most of his starters on the bench, which was a decision that seemed to backfire almost immediately. With no preseason snaps under their belt, the Bears offense floundered through the first few weeks of the regular season.
After watching that nightmare unfold last year, Nagy has decided he won't be making the same mistake again.
"As we talk, that's one of the things that I look back at from last year that I'm not happy about that I made a decision to do in the preseason," Nagy said of benching his starters on the Waddle & Silvy Show, via NBC Sports Chicago. "No. 1, I think it's good for them to have it, but No. 2 it sets the mentality. So that's not going to happen this year."
Nagy seemed to think that the extra rest might help his offense, but instead, it just looked rusty. Not only did the Bears score just three points in Week 1, but their offense only averaged 14.75 points over the first four weeks of the season. Only the Bengals, Jets and Dolphins were worse over those first four games.
At the time, Nagy's reasoning for benching his starters in the preseason was simple: The Bears coach didn't think 30 extra snaps in a few meaningless games would be more important than the thousands of snaps the starters were going to get in training camp.
"I hear it, but I don't believe it right now in regards to where we're at," Nagy said last year about the criticism of benching his starters. "We're at almost 2,000 snaps right now in practice. Team snaps and OTAs 'til now we're at 2,000 snaps. And so for somebody to tell me that 25 to 30 reps [in a preseason game] is going to go ahead and make him a better player Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 is ... it's not going to happen."
Spoiler alert: It did happen, and now Nagy has changed his mind on what the best course of action his team in the preseason.
