What went wrong? Best-laid plans mostly failed for Bears in 2019

When the Bears flipped center Cody Whitehair and left guard James Daniels in the offseason — moving Daniels to center and Whitehair to left guard — it looked like a no-brainer. They were enhancing a strength rather than covering up a weakness.

Whitehair made the Pro Bowl as an alternate at center in 2018; Daniels showed promise at guard as a rookie, better in the second half than he was in the first. But the offseason switch put each player in the position he played in college. Whitehair, a second-round draft pick (56th overall) in 2016, was a guard at Kansas State. Daniels, a second-round draft pick (39th overall) in 2018, was a center at Iowa. And in the capable hands of veteran line coach Harry Hiestand, there was little doubt the switch would upgrade the Bears’ offensive line.

“They’re back in their natural positions. We wouldn’t have switched them if they [weren’t],” Hiestand said in training camp in August. “We want to put players in the best position to be successful. And James is a natural center.”

Eight games into the season, with the offensive line struggling to live up to preseason expectations, Hiestand switched them back — Whitehair to center, Daniels to left guard. It wasn’t so much that the switch failed, the Bears intimated, but a concession to line dynamics. With right guard Kyle Long on injured reserve with a sudden hip injury after Week 5, the Bears had Rashaad Coward — a former defensive lineman who switched to offensive line in 2018 — playing next to Daniels, a second-year player playing center in the NFL for the first time.

Two inexperienced players next to each other — even with one of them at his best position — became problematic.

“You [had] Kyle, a veteran, steadying guy next to James between him and Bobby [Massie],” Hiestand said. “Now you have a guy that was a defensive lineman playing that spot, and with Cody there [now] it’s a steadying factor.

“This we felt gave us the best opportunity to balance things out and help build the communication between [players]. We had our two most inexperienced players playing next to each other once we lost Kyle, so that was a big consideration.”

It was also a byproduct of bad timing. When Long went on IR, Plan A was to replace him with Ted Larsen, a nine-year veteran with 86 career starts, including eight for the Bears in place of Long in 2016 and 13 last year with the Dolphins.

But Larsen suffered a knee injury as a replacement for Long against the Vikings in Week 4, forcing the Bears to turn to Coward. By the time Larsen recovered, Coward had won the job.

“Rashaad just kind of made the most of it,” Hiestand said. “Because of Ted’s injury, he got an opportunity, and that’s what happens when people get opportunities. He’s just steadily improved, so he’s stayed in there.”

Be that as it may, the failure of the Daniels-Whitehair switch — arguably the biggest slam dunk of the Bears’ offseason roster/lineup adjustments — epitomizes the offensive line issues that have played a huge role in the offensive failure that doomed the season.

They were counting on continuity on the line to be a benefit. When the Bears re-signed Bobby Massie in free agency and reworked Long’s contract in the offseason, all five starters returned after a 12-4 playoff season.

And they hoped Long would be close to his Pro Bowl prime. After three injury-riddled seasons in which he had played 95 percent of the snaps or more in just 21 of 49 games, Long had his first normal offseason and would not need “maintenance days” in training camp.

But the continuity factor didn’t pan out, as the Bears’ offensive line was generally ineffective from the start this season, with nine penalties in the first three games. And the Long scenario was never realized, as the three-time Pro Bowl player did not play up to his previous standard and then suffered the hip injury that eventually put him on IR.

Between the expected benefits of continuity, Long’s return and the Whitehair-Daniels switch, the offensive line as a whole is arguably the biggest culprit in the demise of the 2019 Bears. Mitch Trubisky and David Montgomery/the running game probably top most lists. But if the offensive line had lived up to offseason expectations, those two marquee factors might have turned out better.

It all sounded so promising coming off Nagy’s glorious debut season. But almost every offseason narrative crapped out in 2019, as one disappointment seemed to lead to another in a chain reaction of underwhelming performances. Here’s a look at some of the other key narratives that provided so much hope for 2019 and led to so much disappointment:

Mitch Trubisky will blossom in the second year of Nagy’s offense

Not only did this not happen, it was evident that it wasn’t happening since about the third day of training camp. That’s when the defense was winning every day and the rationale was that the Bears’ elite defense was making the offense look bad — which was debunked by the second quarter of the season opener against the Packers.

There might have been extenuating circumstances in Trubisky’s difficult season: The offensive line regressed from 2019. The tight end position — a critical element in -Nagy’s offense — quickly became a black hole with Trey Burton struggling to recover from a groin injury and Adam Shaheen withering. And Nagy regressed as a play-caller and game-planner.

But Trubisky’s inability to rise above the muck was an indication that the No. 2 pick of the 2017 draft is only as good as the supporting cast around him. In that respect, this seemed like a defining season for Trubisky.

David Montgomery will be a better fit for Nagy’s offense than Jordan Howard

This still might turn out to be true, but it wasn’t evident in 2019. The anticipation of the Montgomery upgrade was so great, when the media ballyhooed the rookie’s seven-yard touchdown run in the preseason opener against the Panthers in August, even Nagy had to temper the enthusiasm.

As it turns out, there was no Montgomery bump. The rookie from Iowa State showed glimpses here and there. He had a 27-yard reception against the Packers in the opener and a 55-yard run against the Chargers. And he had back-to-back productive games against the Lions (16 carries, 75 yards) and Cowboys (20-86) in Weeks 13-14.

But all in all, not a breakout season. Montgomery has rushed for 776 yards on 219 carries (3.5 average) and five touchdowns. Through 15 games last season, Howard had rushed for 826 yards on 229 carries (3.6) and seven touchdowns.

A big part of Montgomery’s “better fit” was his potential in the passing game, but in this fractured offense, he has produced modest numbers. He has 25 receptions for 185 yards (7.4 average) and one touchdown. Through 15 games last year, Howard had 19 receptions for 140 yards (7.4) and no touchdowns.

The kicking derby will produce a reliable NFL kicker

The unconventional process to find a kicker in the wake of Cody Parkey’s missed 43-yard field goal that cost the Bears a victory in the wild-card playoff game took an early dubious turn.

The Panthers’ Joey Slye — whom the Panthers signed off the street Aug. 1 — kicked a 55-yard field goal and went 3-for-3 against the Bears in the preseason opener at Soldier Field, while Eddy Pineiro, for whom the Bears traded a seventh-round draft pick after looking at nine other kickers, missed from 48 yards.

Eventually, Pineiro beat out Elliott Fry — the lone survivor of a ridiculed eight-player kicking derby at rookie minicamp in May — for the job. Pineiro kicked a 53-yard walk-off game-winner against the Broncos, missed a 41-yard potential game-winner on the final play of a 17-16 loss to the Chargers and has been generally reliable. The Bears have had more trouble managing the kicking game than Pineiro has executing it.

Overall, Pineiro has made 19 of 24 field-goal attempts (79.2 percent) with only one bad stretch when he missed 4 of 7 field-goal tries against the Chargers and Rams. He figures to go into camp as the No. 1 kicker, likely with competition. But he’s much farther down the list of concerns than he was at the beginning of the season.

Allen Robinson will be better a full year removed from his ACL surgery

On any list of Bears success stories, the 26-year-old Robinson almost stands alone on top. Robinson emerged as the Bears’No. 1, go-to receiver for 2019. He had 10 receptions for 143 yards in the wild-card loss to the Eagles last season and grabbed the role from the start.

He had seven receptions for 102 yards on 13 targets in the opener against the Packers and has been a consistently productive player and leader. Robinson has 89 receptions for 1,076 yards (12.1 average) and seven touchdowns this season.

As impressive as that production is on the 28th-ranked offense in the NFL, Robinson was not named to the NFC Pro Bowl team. He was behind four deserving candidates: the Falcons’ Julio Jones, the Saints’ Michael Thomas and the Buccaneers’ Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. But it was surprising that Robinson wasn’t named an alternate.

That’s a disappointment. But Trubisky’s endorsement said plenty about Robinson’s importance to this team.

“He’s a Pro Bowler in my mind,” Trubisky said. “He’s done a lot for this team, and he’s played his tail off all season long. I don’t know what goes on with the voting, but he’s had a heck of a year and I’m very proud that he’s one of our leaders and a great teammate.”

Matt Nagy, unencumbered by the introductory phase of a rookie head coach, will grow in his second season

With the offense in place, it was reasonable to expect Nagy to take the next step in 2019 after a rookie season in which the Bears were 20th in total offense but 11th in offensive points scored. He had Trubisky in his second year in the offense, the running back he preferred in Montgomery and virtually every piece intact.

But the offense has been a failure. Losing Burton and Long have hurt, but Nagy’s game-planning and play-calling have been suspect, particularly in the unproductive and out-of-sync running game. That theI-formation was a catalyst for the best rushing performance of the season — 162 yards on 38 carries against the Chargers — is a red flag.

The most serious charge is that Nagy has not played to Trubisky’s strength. Trubisky clearly is more comfortable rolling out, moving the pocket and making plays on the run. But Nagy seems reluctant to totally embrace that aspect of his game.

Either way, Nagy has been out of rhythm all season. Maybe this is just part of the growing pains of implementing the Andy Reid offense when his offensive line play is subpar and he has no proven NFL-caliber pass-catching tight ends. Regardless, he’ll go into 2020 with as much to prove as anyone.

The transition from Vic Fangio to Chuck Pagano will be seamless for the defense

Even if Fangio would have stayed, the Bears would have had trouble duplicating their 2018 season, when they ranked in the top 10 in every major statistical category and led the league in takeaways (36), points allowed (262, 16.4 per game) and defensive touchdowns (six).

This year’s defense couldn’t match that, but it still ranks in the top 10 in yards (eighth), points (third), yards per play (fifth), rushing yards per attempt (fourth), passing yards per attempt (sixth) and third-down conversions (eighth).

The difference is in impact plays. The Bears dropped from first in takeaways in 2018 (36) to 21st this year (16). They’ve dropped from ninth in sacks per pass play to 25th. And after scoring 45 points on defense last year, they’ve scored just seven this year — Ha Ha Clinton-Dix’s interception return against the Redskins in Week 3.

Injuries are a more likely culprit for that than the transition to Pagano. The loss of defensive end Akiem Hicks for 11 games (knee, dislocated elbow) was incalculable. The Bears also lost linebackers Danny Trevathan (six games) and Roquan Smith (four games). All in all, the Bears’ defense was playoff-caliber but lacked the bite to carry a substandard offense.

Trey Burton will be ‘ready to go.’

The Bears were certain that Burton’s sudden groin injury on the eve of the wild-card game against the Eagles was not anxiety-related. But Burton’s return still proved problematic.

The Bears hoped the injury would heal on its own, but when it didn’t, Burton had surgery at an unspecified time (“a couple of months ago,” Nagy said May 29 at OTAs). “We anticipate he’ll be ready to go,” Ryan Pace said four days before training camp opened.

It never really worked out, though. Burton was eased through training camp but missed the season opener with another groin injury the team called unrelated to the earlier one. He struggled through the first half of the season — 14 receptions for 84 yards and no touchdowns — before he was put on injured reserve Nov. 16.

Khalil Mack and Roquan Smith will be even better with a full offseason and training camp

Mack indeed got off to a fast start, with 4œ sacks, four forced fumbles and two tackles for loss in the Bears’ first four games and appeared headed for a monster season.

But the Raiders neutralized him in their victory Oct. 6 in London — a strategy that coincided with the loss of Hicks, who suffered a dislocated left elbow that put him on injured reserve. With Hicks out, schemes to neutralize Mack were more effective. Mack had one sack in the next six games, including a notable statistical shutout against the Chargers on Oct. 27.

Mack still has been an impact player overall, and the inability of other defenders — such as Leonard Floyd and Aaron Lynch — to take advantage of the attention Mack has attracted is arguably a bigger culprit in his “down” season. He has 8œ sacks, 14 quarterback hits, five forced fumbles and four pass breakups this season.

The 22-year-old Smith was expected to make an even bigger leap after an impressive rookie season, despite a contract holdout that cost him most of training camp and all of the preseason in 2018.

That didn’t quite happen because of a couple of bumps in the road. He was a last-minute scratch from the Vikings game in Week 4 because of a mysterious personal issue. He returned the next week, but his performance was notably sluggish.

Smith snapped out of that funk against the Eagles in Week 9 and had double-digit tackles in four of five games — including 16 tackles and two sacks against the Lions on Thanksgiving. But he suffered a season-ending torn pectoral muscle in the first quarter against the Cowboys on Dec. 5 and was put on injured reserve.

It was a herky-jerky season for Smith, the eighth overall pick of the 2018 draft. But after his inspired play before suffering the injury, he’ll enter next season with the same expectations of reaching a Pro Bowl level, or better.

The Bears’ culture will prevent a Jaguars-like regression

“I think culture is what sustains success,” Pace said before training camp. “I just think how close we are as a team. These guys are all great teammates, they’re all passionate about football. They’re highly competitive. It’s just a really close, tight-knit group — no egos. And I think that all gels together to what we have going right now.”

Pace was absolutely right about the culture. With Nagy leading the way, the Bears’ fortitude and attitude were rock-solid through a difficult, disappointing season. They never cracked — though a shoddy, uninspired performance in a 26-3 loss to the Chiefs last week seemed to indicate it’s time to move on to 2020 and start over.

The Nagy-inspired backbone wasn’t enough to avoid a regression like the Jaguars, who were one step from the Super Bowl in 2017, then plummeted to 5-11 in 2018 and are still reeling (5-10) in 2019. But by sustaining a solid foundation, the Bears have a better chance of retooling and rebounding in 2020. Character counts.

But you still have to get the quarterback right.