ESPN analyst Brian Griese made a miserable “Monday Night Football” performance even worse for the Bears.
As the Los Angeles Rams rolled to a 24-10 victory, Griese made some eyebrow-raising comments at the end of the game.
“We were talking to Nick Foles [Sunday], 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 in the fourth quarter. “So that’s something that they have to get worked out.”
After the defeat, in which the quarterback was constantly under pressure, Foles and Nagy were pressed by reporters about the analyst’s comments.
“That was definitely a miscommunication with Brian and I. We do these pregame conversations the day before the game just to give them information,” Foles said of the production meetings every team’s key players do with broadcast crews.
“Coach Nagy and I have great conversations on the sidelines. So, there might be times we go through it beforehand and say, ‘what do you think?’ And there’s times you got to get the ball out quick and whatnot. But, in those situations, Matt and I have a great relationship on the sideline with conversations and everything. I think in that situation with Brian it was a miscommunication of words. That’s not what I was trying to bring across in that conversation.
“When Coach Nagy and I talk on the sidelines, we’ll go through plays and different situations and go through the defense. I’ll be honest, like, ‘hey, right now, maybe get the ball out quicker. They’re bringing some pressures and whatnot.’ … Part of that was, ‘Hey, maybe we don’t have the time right now for this type of drop because of what they’re bringing, the pressures they’re bringing.’ It’s easier with that to go, ‘hey, 1, 2, 3 ball out.’”
Foles was under constant pressure all night and got sacked four times. The Bears’ lone touchdown came on defense with an Eddie Jackson fourth quarter fumble recovery.
“That’s where the miscommunication [with Griese] lies,” Foles continued. “Those are actually conversations coach Nagy and I have on the sidelines so that when we go to the field we’re ready to roll. I think that’s a valuable relationship I have with him, to be able to talk like that and understand specifically for me to talk about each game is its own entity so you have to understand how to play it in the appropriate way.”
Foles took over as the Bears’ starter in Week 3 after Mitch Trubisky started at the outset of the season. Despite the Bears’ 5-2 start, there are questions with every facet of their offense. Some in the media have called for Nagy to give up his play-calling duties to gain a fuller picture of what’s going on in the field.
“Nick and I have a pretty good relationship, and he hasn’t said anything,” Nagy said. “I’m sure he’ll explain what he meant by that.”
Foles was brought in to compete with Trubisky, whom the Bears drafted second-overall in 2017. Trubisky was benched during a Week 3 game against the Falcons, in which Foles then led Chicago to a 20-point fourth-quarter comeback for a 30-26 win. Foles was named starter in Week 4 and the Bears have gone 2-2 since.