Justin Fields’ deep pass to Cole Kmet was both tantalizing and infuriating

As you are probably aware, Chicago Bears head coach and “offensive play-designer” Matt Nagy has not always done the best work to the advancement of rookie quarterback Justin Fields. We could write a detailed article about all the reasons Nagy has failed his young quarterback, and in fact, we have. The only times Fields has been effective this season were in Week 4 against the Lions, when Nagy publicly ceded play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, and Week 8 against the 49ers, when Nagy was in the COVID protocol (which we don’t wish on anyone, including bad coaches).

On Monday night against the Steelers, and Nagy back on the sideline, it was the usual Nagy stuff. Instead of the more expansive route concepts and the sense to use Fields as a runner you saw when Lazor was clearly in charge, it was more dinky slant/flat stuff combined with iso routes that take too long to develop, a frustrating insistence on keeping Fields in the pocket, and all kinds of illegal formation and procedure issues.

And then, without warning, something good happened to the Bears’ offense. With 9:12 left in the first half, Fields took the ball from center, rolled to his left, and hit tight end Cole Kmet for a 25-yard gain.

You may notice, especially from the end zone replay, that Fields rolling out of the pocket created defensive displacement, making the throw easier for the young quarterback.

That was the tantalizing part of the play. The infuriating part is that it was the first bootleg Fields ran in the game. As much as Nagy has a massive Valu-Pak of coaching and schematic issues, his relative refusal to let Fields use his mobility to create and exploit defensive openings might be the most egregious. Olin Kreutz, who played center for the Bears from 1998 through 2010, expressed his frustrations similarly and succinctly.

The metrics bear out the idea that Fields should be rolling out more often. Per Sports Info Solutions:

Now, add in that Fields didn’t start until Week 3, and you get the idea.

Of course, since Nagy was involved, the bootlegs that happened later in the game were fraught with complications. Like the one where the plan was apparently to avoid blocking Steelers ace edge-rusher T.J. Watt.

As long as Nagy lasts in this job — and it’s important to remember that the Bears, who have been in existence as a foundational NFL team since 1920 in some form or function, have never fired a head coach in-season — we’ll just have to take what we can get, and hope that Justin Fields survives it.