The Browns are a really solid team. They have struggled a bit on defense, but the talent is there. I think a lot of teams have struggled a bit in these early games. Why? I don't know.
This is a game that could go either way. But if the Bears defense continues to improve and have a solid game, then the Bears certainly have a shot at winning. The D has to show up and play a COMPLETE game. The game then comes down to Matt Nagy and not Justin Fields. Nagy needs to focus all resources on helping Fields this week. As "The Athletic" was saying in their article today, Nagy has not given fields much experience with the #1s and that hurts. It's a big deal. Just being a rookie QB is tough enough. It's double-touch when you are trotted out there to play with a team you haven't really played with much... being QB of the depth players in training camp is not the same. But, now is an opportunity to change all that. Forget Dalton for this season. Focus on your franchise QB for the rest of this season. We have the OL to do this. We have adequate skill players for Fields to be "The Guy" for this season.
I believe if the Bears go all-in now on Fields (and Nagy can not crap the bed here) then games like this Browns game can be won. But it's all on Nagy now. If he screws this up I hope they fire him mid-season. Don't let him be a set-back hurting Fields' development. Or if you don't fire him, maybe Pace can force Nagy to hand over the OC duties to the OC (why they haven't done this already is a mystery to me).
The Browns are a really solid team. They have struggled a bit on defense, but the talent is there. I think a lot of teams have struggled a bit in these early games. Why? I don't know.
This is a game that could go either way. But if the Bears defense continues to improve and have a solid game, then the Bears certainly have a shot at winning. The D has to show up and play a COMPLETE game. The game then comes down to Matt Nagy and not Justin Fields. Nagy needs to focus all resources on helping Fields this week. As "The Athletic" was saying in their article today, Nagy has not given fields much experience with the #1s and that hurts. It's a big deal. Just being a rookie QB is tough enough. It's double-touch when you are trotted out there to play with a team you haven't really played with much... being QB of the depth players in training camp is not the same. But, now is an opportunity to change all that. Forget Dalton for this season. Focus on your franchise QB for the rest of this season. We have the OL to do this. We have adequate skill players for Fields to be "The Guy" for this season.
I believe if the Bears go all-in now on Fields (and Nagy can not crap the bed here) then games like this Browns game can be won. But it's all on Nagy now. If he screws this up I hope they fire him mid-season. Don't let him be a set-back hurting Fields' development. Or if you don't fire him, maybe Pace can force Nagy to hand over the OC duties to the OC (why they haven't done this already is a mystery to me).
I voted "C". Would have voted "B" if not for Fields starting since I think he can hit a big play or two that Dalton can't to keep the Bears close. I still figure Browns will win 27-23 but I feel we have a better chance for a road upset here than we did week 1.
Browns are a solid team, maybe just a hair below the caliber of elite teams like Rams, Bucs, Chiefs, etc. Yeah getting Fields very few reps with the 1s in TC/PS is gonna result in some mistakes like we saw vs Bengals (snap count off, Fields making a bad decision resulting in an INT, and so forth). More and more I'm coming to believe that Nagy insisted on riding Dalton as long as possible because he thinks that would extend his leash. Now, he's on the hot seat. And I don't mean he's imminently in danger of getting canned but that Nagy is out of excuses starting this week.
If Nagy can't scheme up a competent offense with Fields under center then he's gonna face pitchforks fairly soon.
If Nagy can't scheme up a competent offense with Fields under center then he's gonna face pitchforks fairly soon.
If Nagy can't scheme up a competent offense with Fields then the quicker the Bears dump him the better. Let's not allow him to do any damage to the kid. I fear that 100-tiimes more than Fields being damaged by starting too soon in his career. I just don't think Nagy knows what he's doing on offense. And for a guy hired as an "offense guru" that is a problem.
If Nagy does all of a sudden become an offense guru then fantastic - keep him. But if we see him delivering more of what we saw with Trubisky then I hope he doesn't finish the season here. Sweep him out mid-season. The Bears don't have the guts to do that. I get that. They'll let him continue the Nagy clown show for way too long. It will hurt the team, and I sure hope it doesn't hurt this new QB long term.
If Nagy can't scheme up a competent offense with Fields under center then he's gonna face pitchforks fairly soon.
If Nagy can't scheme up a competent offense with Fields then the quicker the Bears dump him the better. Let's not allow him to do any damage to the kid. I fear that 100-tiimes more than Fields being damaged by starting too soon in his career. I just don't think Nagy knows what he's doing on offense. And for a guy hired as an "offense guru" that is a problem.
If Nagy does all of a sudden become an offense guru then fantastic - keep him. But if we see him delivering more of what we saw with Trubisky then I hope he doesn't finish the season here. Sweep him out mid-season. The Bears don't have the guts to do that. I get that. They'll let him continue the Nagy clown show for way too long. It will hurt the team, and I sure hope it doesn't hurt this new QB long term.
Bears don't fire HCs midseason but Pace could at least force Nagy to turn playcalling over to Lazor. Nagy is a good HC IMO in terms of strategy and keeping the locker room it seems but he's bad at game day tactics.
Take that play where he had Graham block for Fields run to the left on 3rd and goal. Graham ole'd the block and the play failed. If he had Graham instead post-up in the corner of the EZ, the DB would have had to follow him into the route and set Fields up for a run-pass option option with a mismatch of Graham against a much smaller nickelback. Just a terrible play design.
Both the D and the O will keep it close. There will be player mistakes on both sides, but ultimately it will be Nagy that will lose it with his offensive game management and arena-ball playcalling.