Nagy positive Chicago Bears' offense will come around
The sky didn't fall Sunday on the Chicago Bears in London, the sun did come up Monday morning, and now is not the time for fans to get out on the ledge.
Every team in the NFL has a game or three every year where worst case they fail to show up or best case arrive without the edge that allows them to play at their best.
As Bears coach Matt Nagy told the media Monday morning before heading to the airport and returning to Chicago, "This game reminds me a little bit last year of the feeling that we had after Miami.
"It was different because Miami was back and forth and the emotions of going into overtime and it was close and everything, but just kind of the feel of it overall was that, and I think you know that was a point in our season that our guys, they rallied after that game and we ended up making a run later in the season, so we have high-character guys that will figure this thing out."
While figuring it out is certainly not a given, the club's short history under Nagy is encouraging, and nothing happened Sunday to stop the Bears from still having a great season.
The Kansas City Chiefs suffered an even more demoralizing loss Sunday night, getting pounded worse physically than the Bears did and suffering it at home rather than almost four thousand miles and six time zones away as well.
Are you writing off the Chiefs? That said, there is clearly work to do.
In their only true slugfests so far this season - if, in fact, the Bears earned a truly impressive majority decision over the Vikings, and they did - the Raiders scored a technical knockout repeatedly sending the Bears to the mat.
What is so impressive about these Bears is they have as many remarkable athletes as almost any team in the league.
But are they physical enough? It is a challenge they will certainly be given over the next two weeks.
Nagy danced around the topic a bit Monday morning but said, "For me you have a lot of time to think through where you're at, and for me this game, when you do it the right way - when you coach, when you play, no matter what you be, it can be Little League Baseball, or, say, youth football - when you win your one-on-one battle your chances of winning are high, high percentage.
"You've got to win your one-on-one battle, and that's not just the offensive line, that's everybody.
"Win your one-on-one battle. You win your one-on-one battle and good things should happen."
Nagy went right to the offensive line I'm sure because ongoing concerns even before Sunday start with the offense and usually point right to the running game and the quarterback.
"Offensively, the numbers show we all know and we all understand that we're not playing where we need to be at," Nagy said. "We need to be more productive.
"It's inevitable that a defense that we've had the first four weeks of the season, there's going to be a time when there's a little struggle, that's a credit to Oakland.
"But when is the offense going to step up and take over for that? That's what we're trying to get to where we're more balanced: offense, defense, special teams."
On the O-line specifically, Nagy was clear there is work to do, but he added, "We'll talk as a staff and figure it out. But they're good people that care, if you have that, that matters. They care … so we've just got to figure out why."
While Nagy didn't suggest lineup changes, he also didn't rule them out.
Talking about how he will take advantage of the bye week and self-scouting himself, his staff and the team, Nagy said: "Now in self scout you're able to really self scout, in our position right now the players and how they're performing. That's what this one's probably a little bit more about with where we're at offensively right now."
As for the quarterback, it will continue to be a hot button. But it couldn't be much clearer now: They need Mitch Trubisky healthy ASAP, but when that will be remains to be seen.
• Hub Arkush, the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.