As the offense of the Chicago Bears sputtered against the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night, ESPN broadcaster Brian Griese relayed a conversation from quarterback Nick Foles during their production meetings over the weekend that seemed to indicate a disconnect between Foles and head coach Matt Nagy.
During the fourth quarter, Griese spoke of the conversation with Foles and his supposed assertion about Nagy’s play calls occasionally being problematic.
“We were talking to Nick Foles yesterday, [and] he said, ‘You know, sometimes play calls come in and I know that I don’t have time to execute that play call. You know, I’m the one out here getting hit. Sometimes the guy calling the plays, Matt Nagy, he doesn’t know how much time there is back here,’” Griese said, via Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times. “So that’s something that they have to get worked out.”
The way the comments came across through Griese would seem to indicate Foles being critical of plays called by Nagy for not giving him enough time to accomplish the goal of the play.
However, Foles was asked about the comments after the loss to the Rams and said that the conversation with Griese wasn’t relayed correctly.
“That’s not what I was trying to bring across in that conversation,” he said.
“We go through plays and different situations, and I’ll be honest and say we need to get the ball out quicker. We were talking about game situations and Coach Nagy’s and my conversations and our relationship. I’ll say on the sideline, ‘Maybe we don’t have the time right now for this type of drop because of the pressure that they’re bringing.’ I think that’s a valuable conversation I’m able to have with him.”
The comment, however it was initially stated, probably wouldn’t have garnered much thought had the Bears not been held without an offensive touchdown against the Rams on Monday night in their 24-10 loss. In a year where offense numbers are exploding across the NFL, the Bears have been held to under 20 points three times in seven games played. There are only five teams in the NFL averaging fewer points per game than the 5-2 Bears and those five teams are a combined 7-26.
“Nick and I have a pretty good relationship, and he hasn’t said that,” Nagy said. “I’m sure he’ll explain what he meant by that.”