The Chicago Bears offense remains in a long hibernation.
Since Week 8, Matt Nagy's team has averaged 14.3 points per game and 261.3 total yards, with 166.5 passing yards and a piddling 28.3 conversion rate on third down.
Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky's horrid play deservedly gets the bulk of the criticism around Chicago, but every facet has been a failure. The offensive line struggles to block, backs aren't consistently hitting the hole, receivers' dependability waxes and wanes.
The entire operation sometimes feels like it's run by Wile E. Coyote.
The man behind the plays, however, has assessed the situation and doesn't believe a change in play-calling is warranted.
"What I would say is this," Nagy said, via NBC Sports Chicago, acknowledging that if he felt he was the problem, "I'll be the first to tell you, then we need to be better or if there's a rhythm to something. I have zero ego and I have zero care of giving play-call duties to somebody else. I really do not care about that, and if that's what we feel like from going through it that that's what we need to do, then I would do that, I really would.
"But when you go through the tape and you look at things and you know schematically where we're at and what we're calling and when we're calling it. ... There's without a doubt a few plays in that game that I would go back and say, 'You know what, that's our fault. We didn't scheme it right,' and that starts with me. And I need to be able to accept that and know how do I fix that. But we'll do everything we can ... we're turning over every stone to get this thing right."
Nagy was hired as an offensive guru last year to help build a multifaceted offense like the one Andy Reid runs in K.C. Nagy, however, didn't call plays for most of his time in Kansas City, with the former OC only taking over for his final stretch run before getting the job in Chicago. This season marks the first time he's had to truly assess his tendencies as a play-caller as defenses adjust.
With Mark Helfrich, who is in his first stint in the NFL, as the OC, it's not as if Nagy has a built-in veteran option to hand those duties off to anyway.
Nagy was hired to build and lead the offense. Last year he was good. This year, not so.
The QB situation certainly hasn't helped, but Nagy's bizarre play-calling -- eschewing the run early in the season coupled with some head-scratching passing concepts -- and the lack of taking advantage of Trubisky's legs has debilitated the Bears offense.
Like a golfer with the yips, Nagy has little choice but to play through the struggles. A year after he won Coach of the Year, the league caught up to Nagy. Now it's on the coach and play-caller to adjust for the stretch run to build positive momentum for 2020.