Basic Instinct

My latent loyalty to the Bears kicked in yesterday against the Packers.  For someone who abhors the threat of concussions, I kept wanting to see Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers get bounced off the turf the way I saw Dick Butkus do it to Bart Starr that game I attended at Wrigley Field in December of 1970.  I’ll take the five sacks, though, in a 24-17 win that gave the Monsters their first NFC North title in eight years.

One thing bothers me, though—head coach Matt Nagy, or Inspector Gadget, as he’s sometimes called.  Bears’ fans are understandably giddy to have a coach unafraid to throw downfield or try to score with a minute left in the first half.  But the trick plays are too clever by half.

Yesterday, two of them—a direct snap to running back Tarik Cohen and a fake punt—both failed, with one of them leading to a Green Bay touchdown.  Even when they do work, you have to wonder, like in the Giants’ game two weeks ago when defensive end Akiem Hicks scored a rushing touchdown.  Great, but what if Hicks had gotten injured?  I mean, he was nursing a hamstring all that week.

Then there’s Nagy using both his quarterbacks on a play or inserting safety Eddie Jackson in the flanker position.  Imagine if God were in a particularly foul mood and decided it would be fun to have not one, but two, quarterbacks hurt on the same play.  To avoid any such run of bad luck, I’d dial it back on the trickery.

Nagy’s stated refusal to do so leaves some cause for concern over the long haul; keep daring stuff to happen, and eventually it will.  But I leave that for another day.  The Bears won their division and ended the Packers’ playoff hopes.  Christmas has come early to Chicago.