Decision to Keep Playing Rashaad Coward not Among Matt Nagy’s Best Moves
The Chicago Bears have had some key injuries to their offensive line this year that have created some pretty big holes. Starters James Daniels and Bobby Massie have both been placed on the IR, with Daniels out for the season. Because they had virtually no depth on the line, Daniels going down in the fifth game of the season left them without any great options.
Matt Nagy and his staff tabbed Rashaad Coward instead of going with Alex Bars to fill the void and it’s clear now that was not the right decision. Just take a peek at this comparison of games played with and without Coward:
| Rush Yds/Gm | Yds/Att | Sacks Allwd/Gm | Press Allwd/Gm | W-L | |
| With Coward | 61 | 2.99 | 2.8 | 10.8 | 1-4 |
| Without | 100 | 4.57 | 2.5 | 9 | 4-2 |
What kind of impact did Rashaad Coward have on the #Bears running game?
In the 5 games Coward played every offensive snap, the numbers:
102 times for 305 yards. 2.99 yds/att
In the 6 games Coward played zero offensive snaps, the numbers:
131 times for 599 yards, 4.57 yds/att
— Bill Zimmerman (@BillTZimmerman) December 1, 2020
It’s only fair to point out that Coward is a converted defensive lineman, so we shouldn’t be all that surprised by the poor results. The real issue here is why Nagy thought starting Coward for five games — during which time his performances failed the eye test and were just downright bad statistically — was ever a good idea.
