Nick Foles and Matt Nagy are in a crash course 
to get on the same page in the Chicago Bears offense. 
....
By Phil Thompson, Chicago Tribune 5 hrs ago --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Tribune logo Nick Foles and Matt Nagy are in a ‘crash course’ to get on the same page in the Chicago Bears offense
Matt Nagy and Nick Foles have known each other for years, but as play caller and signal caller, it’s like they met 2 1/4 u00bd weeks ago.
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Nagy was an offensive assistant on Andy Reid’s Philadelphia Eagles staff in 2012, when Foles was a rookie backup, and they reunited with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016.
But it’s clear now, with Nagy as the Chicago Bears coach and Foles as the starting quarterback, that after two quarters of relief and two starts, they’re still developing a feel for each other.
The Bears are 1-1 in Foles’s two starts while scoring a total of 31 points, scratching out a 20-19 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. The Bears rank
27th in total yards per game (323.2) and
30th in third-down efficiency (33%).
“The thing is,” Foles said Wednesday, “with being with a newer staff and new players, and it’s Matt’s first time where he’s calling plays for me, there’s a crash course in everyone being on the same page to where we go out there and execute.
“That’s a daily thing. It’s not like we’ve been together for 10 years and are playing in the same offense. … It hasn’t even been a year.”
Ever since Nagy benched Mitch Trubisky and inserted Foles to lead the second-half comeback win against the Falcons in Week 3, the coach and quarterback have been working on a hectic schedule.
“It’s interesting because you have the second half that (Foles) went in and everything just kind of hits you real fast, you’re down, you’re behind, you’re kind of a one-dimensional team and things happen quick,” Nagy said. "And then the next week ... is your first week kind of prepping together to a different style (of) quarterback and a guy that has different likes and dislikes (than Trubisky).
"And so you’re adjusting to that and you’re playing against a pretty good team as well with the Colts (who beat the Bears 19-11). And then you go right into a short week” against the Buccaneers.
Things looked liked they were going south against the Bucs when the Bears fell behind 13-0 in the second quarter, but Foles led a fourth-quarter drive that resulted in the go-ahead field goal with 1 minute, 13 seconds left.
Earlier in the fourth, Nagy and Foles had a sideline exchange about staying in a no-huddle offense to keep the Bucs defense on its heels. Foles characterized that conversation Wednesday as animated, but both agreed there was no discord about how to run the offense.
“It’s funny because on the sideline, when he was talking to me about picking the pace up and doing different things, some people can take that we were arguing,” Nagy said. “And he was laughing about it because that’s not who we are. That’s how you talk through things and you figure out what you like and don’t like.”
Foles said it “wasn’t really as big of a deal as people think it was.”
“It was more just Nags and I talking,” he said. “I’ve known Nags for a while. It was just me explaining sort of my thought process in a situation in a way to attack the defense.
“There was nothing heated at all. It was just him and I in the game trying to get better, pushing forward. We were just having a good conversation. I saw something out there and I just really wanted to take advantage of it.”
Nagy admitted he’s learning how opinionated his veteran quarterback can be: “You like that about him.”
What he hasn’t liked is the offense’s lack of execution of the “details,” especially on third down,
and Nagy made pointed comments Friday.
Foles agreed, and he, his coaches and his teammates have emphasized communication and execution in meetings and practices this week. It’s a process, he said.
“It doesn’t just happen overnight,” he said. "It’s never happened overnight ever in my career.
“It’s really just continue to push forward and continue to self-scout, continue to go out there working on things, throwing routes, talking about different situations, talking about where I want them to be, what they see, stuff like that, coverage recognition by me and the receivers and the tight ends and running backs.”
If the players can clean up the details, Foles believes it will build currency with Nagy and help the two get on the same page.
“If there’s things that I see, just letting me roll and letting me do my thing as a play caller out there, let me call a play,” Foles said. “And that’s something where that trust just builds. … That’s something in my past with certain play callers where having that freedom has been huge.
“And Coach Nagy’s been open to everything. His knowledge of the game, what he understands, what he wants is on the same page as me.”
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