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Matt Nagy did not spend so much time in Chicago. But he has a sense of perspective, and perhaps a knowledge of Bears' history, whose players (and fan base) are badly needed after the scathing 48-10 slamming of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The perspective is: do not trust the buzz.
The Nagy Bears have won all three games since their demoralizing defeat against the Green Bay Packers at the opening weekend. The series earned them a 3-1 record and a top spot in the north of the NFC. During these three games, Nagy learned how his young team responded to a defeat. And then to win.
But this one is different from those victories over Seattle and Arizona because it was a complete, dominating football match in all three phases. Because everything went very well against Tampa Bay and Nagy knows that his team is capable of being complacent even when Aaron Rodgers is involved, the pitfalls of the Buccaneers game could be more difficult than ever before.
And Nagy knows it.
"You have to keep the blinkers on the horses and you can not leave any of the noises that affect our team," said Nagy, reiterating what he had said to the team on Monday before releasing them for a week leave. "I would say the same thing if we were 1-3. "It's a long year. We must understand that controlling what we can control and the game mentality by game. Do not climb too high.
"Do not think you're a playoff team. Do not think that you are a team capable of winning on the field because you are 3-1 and you are the Chicago Bears. This is not true. We must understand that every game we need must do our best. It was a rare match yesterday to win by 38 points. There is too much parity in this league. And as a young team, we have to have the mentality of one game at a time. "
He has a story to highlight his points.
After annihilating the Green Bay Packers 61-7 at the end of the 1980 season, the Bears lost (at home) 17-14 against the Cincinnati Bengals 6-10. They then closed the season with a breakaway point against the unmissable 5-10-1 Tampa Bay one year after Bucs coach John McKay was questioned about the execution of his attack. He reportedly said, "I am for.
Vince Evans singled out the Tampa Bay defense with a smuggler rating (158.3) even better than Mitch Trubisky's Tampa Bay defense (154.6).
Nagy's feeling is that he is fully satisfied with the combined performance. Which is reasonable: the 483 offensive yards were defeated with three top-15 No. 1 on his defensive line (Gerald McCoy, Jason Pierre-Paul, Vita Vea) and Pro Bowl's linebacker (Lavonte David) and half a corner (Brent Grimes).
But the climax was also opposed to a defense that looked like something between Washington's combat partners and generals; Sunday marked the 19th time in 36 games under the direction of Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Mike Smith, including all four this season, claiming that an offense had amassed more than 400 yards on the Buccaneers, the sixth with more than 450 yards. games that Tampa Bay has awarded 30 points or more.
And the fact is that none of the Bears' three conquests is greater than 0.500 and Nagy's voice was very urgent, he said, from the Halas Hall podium, the message he had conveyed to his team on Monday.
"We have to understand that every game we need is the best," said Nagy. "It was a rare match yesterday to win by 38 points. There is too much parity in this league. And as a young team, we have to have the mentality of one game at a time. "
Changing the guard?
The disparity in the use of halfbacks Tarik Cohen (13 litters, eight targets) and Jordan Howard (11 carries, one target) against Tampa Bay did not seem to sit well with Howard, the presumed (certainly by Howard) in the Chicago Offense. But what happened in front of Cohen, Howard and Trubisky justified their own analysis.
For the third time in four games, the Bears have amassed at least 120 yards. Trubisky had 53 of 139 yards. It's a race (pun intended) of production on the ground that a Chicago attack has not taken place since the first three matches of December 2013. And this time it was accompanied by a solid protection against passes and a quarterback who behaves in a devastating manner.
Trubisky, whose ginchiness in the pocket has contributed to sacks in the past, was sacked once by Tampa Bay – only the fourth time in 16 career games that he has been sacked less than twice. (He never got rid of his bag, oddly enough, the Bears had lost all three previous games.)
"You stop the band," said Nagy, referring to his offensive line, "and you look at the [open] green grass, we talk about it all week – if you have green grass as quarterback … the quarterbacks of this league are too good not to hit. So when the offensive line protects the way they've been protected, it's a beautiful thing. "
The line created open spaces for the backs and kept the Buccaneers angry away from their quarterback. But the top five seem to be at least partially in the molten state.
James Daniels played 27 shots against Tampa Bay, the first to be offensive in choosing the No. 2 draft of 2018. The former All-American center of Iowa is expected to overthrow Eric Kush at the guard post of left or intervene at the center and give the coaches the opportunity to move Cody Whitehair to the guard post. The guard remains the best landing spot, and Nagy and his coach Harry Hiestand gave Daniels good marks for his game against Tampa Bay.
"[Daniels] must identify fronts and make adjustments in practice, "said Hiestand. "Usually, you do not play better in games than in practice, so once he has been stabilized and he has seen things in practice and his technique, it has earned him a place to play. "
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