We need a wholesale modernization of the offense, on the level of what Day brought taking the offense over from Urban. Our pass offense asks too much of the line and the QB, and gives too much initiative over to the opposing defensive coordinator to be aggressive. Everything is 2-3 reads plus a dump down, trying to give our WRs a chance to beat their guy for a big damaging play. But when we want to go from 1st and 10 to just 2nd and 5, or needing 3-5 yards on third down... we need schemed open plays that are only designed to get just that much. I think this will also take a lot of pressure off of the red zone offense, where you can't really depend on WRs beating their guy because the end zone is an extra defender.
Even at the NFL level, you see this everywhere. I watch a lot of Bears. That has been the recipe for Caleb Williams this season and the major adjustment Ben Johnson has made. You see it in SF in how they use McCaffrey and Kittle. You saw it from Miami on how they use their #10 guy (forget his name), or just how they consistently get off to a good start on first down and convert third and makeable.
In a pretty shocking turn, I think offensive schemes have left Ryan Day behind and he is now running a pretty dated scheme. I think he has always asked his QBs to do a lot... he wants to load them up with several options and reads on each play. But Mendoza (6th year senior), Beck (who knows how long he's been in college) are beating you with 1 and 2 read passing games... at some point you have to see what is working against your defense and think "maybe I should incorporate some of this".
My preference would be a young, outside hire OC who has exposure to these modern offensive systems. I think JT Barrett has learned a ton and gets rave reviews in both Detroit and now Chicago. I would give him a look. I don't really know lots of coaching trees and names... not my bag... but modernization needs to be the name of the game.
Day saw that we needed wholesale scheme changes on defense and to his credit he made good hires there back to back. He has the chance to make a similarly impactful decision now on the offensive side of the ball... but will he make it given that he sees offense as 'his' thing?
