Bears Insider

Bears vs. Rams 3 takeaways: The worst loss of Nagy era

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Nothing went right for the Bears in a 24-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night.

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In 2019’s Week 7, the Bears were exposed by the New Orleans Saints, losing 36-25 in a game that never was that close. It was the second loss in a four-game losing streak that effectively knocked the Bears out of the NFC playoff picture.

The Bears’ 24-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in 2020’s Week 7 will not knock them out of the NFC’s playoff picture. They’re still 5-2. But Monday night’s uncompetitive bludgeoning felt a lot like last year’s loss to a legitimate contender in the Saints.

The Bears’ offense is atrocious and there is not an easy fix in sight. Trading for a left guard or signing Quinton Spain will not instantaneously make everything better.

Matt Nagy needs to find solutions to an offense that’s been broken for the majority of the three years he’s been in Chicago (and, to be fair, has been broken for the majority of this franchise’s existence). Nick Foles needs to stop throwing a “dumb” interception – in his own words – every week. Demetrius Harris needs to stop dropping passes since coaches seemingly like him much more than Cole Kmet. David Montgomery actually needs some lanes to run through. This is not an exhaustive list of the faults of this offense, which remains one of the worst in the NFL.

What fourth-and-one play was a more fitting representation of this Monday night debacle: Rashaad Coward getting called for a false start on a QB sneak that looked like it might get a first down deep in Bears territory, or Cordarrelle Patterson getting stuffed for a loss of two on a fourth-and-one toss sweep in the third quarter?

Either way, pathetic games like this don’t portend well for the rest of the season. Even if the Bears are still 5-2.

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The low point of Nagy’s time in Chicago, I would say, was last year’s 17-7 loss to the Rams. But this was the worst loss, easily.

Nagy made several odd coaching decisions. He called two timeouts on a drive late in the second quarter – which seemed to stop the momentum of a promising drive – then didn’t bother calling a timeout that would’ve forced the Rams to punt just before halftime. Even though Ted Ginn Jr. seems to have a chronic aversion to catching punts, hey, at least you could go for a block.

The fourth-and-one toss sweep to Patterson felt like Nagy going to a well that’s been dry for years. Taking Jimmy Graham off the field on the play Foles was picked off on felt like an inflexible dedication to the call sheet instead of advantageous matchups. At some point, Nagy needs to get Cole Kmet on the field more – he had a 38-yard catch followed by a seven-yard snag, then wasn’t targeted again.

I’m going to get to the defense in my final thought here – they’re not spared, don’t worry. But the failings of this offense fall at Nagy’s feet, and this humiliating loss will too.

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Sean McVay got the better of Chuck Pagano, and the Bears’ defense didn’t tackle well enough. You have to wonder if this game looks different if Tashaun Gipson doesn’t try to bat down what looked like a routine interception deep in Rams territory.

Darrell Henderson and Malcom Brown were effective and efficient running the ball, helping tee up Jared Goff to pick apart the Bears’ defense. And it worked especially well in the red zone, where the Bears had been so good this year, like a rush-to-the-line-quick-snap play led to Los Angeles’ first touchdown of the day.

The Bears’ defense needed to be better, certainly before Robert Quinn stripped Robert Woods and Eddie Jackson recovered the fumble for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. But it also wouldn’t have mattered with the way the Bears’ offense played.

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