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Nagy acknowledges Bears' lack of rush attempts: 'I'm not an idiot'

Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Matt Nagy acknowledged the criticism Monday over his play-calling, which has turned the Chicago Bears into a pass-heavy offense at times in his second year at the helm.

"I know we need to run the ball more," the reigning NFL Coach of the Year said, according to Mark Grote of WSCR Radio. "I'm not an idiot."

The Bears registered just seven rush attempts in their Week 7 loss to the New Orleans Saints, a far cry from the 54 passes Mitchell Trubisky threw.

For the season, Chicago has the sixth-largest discrepancy between rush and pass attempts, throwing the pigskin 65.2% of the time.

"I never go into a game saying I want to throw the ball 54 times," Nagy added. "I'd love to go into a game saying I'd like to run the ball 54 times, but that hasn't happened."

Nagy helped resurrect the Bears' offense last year, but the unit has regressed to third-worst in the NFL in 2019. Even when Chicago has tried to establish the run, the results haven't been great.

Running back YPG TDs
David Montgomery 3.3 2
Tarik Cohen 2.3 0
Mike Davis 2.4 0

"It's about productive plays," Nagy said of the running game. "Right now we're not having productive plays in the run game, any way you look at it."

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