Not too long ago I reported that the Chicago Bears head coach race appeared to be narrowed down to two men. They were Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Eagles quarterbacks coach. It appeared like they fit the mold best of what GM Ryan Pace wanted: a young, offensively driven coach who could develop Mitch Trubisky into the star the team believes he can be. The only other viable contender out on the fringes was 39-year old Matt Nagy, the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator.
It looked like he might be a favorite after assuming play calling duties back in December. The Chiefs offense went on to score more than 28 points per game. Then things went awry. After a strong start in the playoff game against Tennessee, the Chiefs offense fell flat in the second half, allowing the Titans to rally for a 22-21 victory. Nagy took a lot of heat for that debacle and some felt he lost steam in his bid for the job. Apparently that wasn’t the case.
We have officially named Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy as our new head coach.
Welcome to Chicago, #HeadCoachNagy. 🐻⬇️ pic.twitter.com/3bcZ0OJOEV
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 8, 2018
So that begs an important question. How in the world did Nagy manage to undercut McDaniels and DeFilippo to steal the job?
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Matt Nagy won over Pace because he believed in Trubisky the most
A week ago a source reached out to me about the state of the Bears coaching search. I was told that Pace loved the three candidates mentioned above. All had the qualifications he coveted. However, there was one vital difference between Nagy and the other two. He absolutely loved Trubisky coming out of college.
“THE MOST MENTIONED NAME IS (MATT) NAGY. HE’S BEEN PRIVATELY TELLING PEOPLE HE’D LOVE TO GET THE JOB TO WORK WITH HOWARD AND TRUBISKY AND COULD TURN THINGS AROUND.”
When three coaching candidates are that close, often it becomes a matter of whether one of them believes in a certain key player. While McDaniels and DeFilippo may have said they were fine with Mitch at quarterback, Nagy came across as a guy who saw him as Pace does. As the franchise. This reality was soon backed up by other sources.
Here is a great piece of intel: Source close to Matt Nagy tells @ESPN1000 that Nagy loved Trubisky in 2017 NFL Draft and the Chiefs loved him. Nagy has stayed close to him during this season. Nagy believes you can win big with Trubisky.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) January 4, 2018
It turns out Pace didn’t need much time to deliberate.
Nagy was offered the job prior to Chiefs playoff game
It was such a convincing lock that Nagy basically had the job wrapped up before Kansas City took the field against Tennessee. As it turns out that was the reason the offense looked off. Head coach Andy Reid took back play calling duties to allow Nagy time to conduct his interview.
Bombshell! Nagy to Bears was a done deal before Chiefs playoff game. Reid took back play scheming and calling to allow Nagy time to prep for his interview. Nagy helped script first 15 plays with Reid, who then took over play calling.
— The Chiefs Kingdom (Ver 2.0) (@1_ChiefsKingdom) January 8, 2018
Seems that extra time was put to good use. With Nagy in place now the Bears have a 24-hour window to move towards the next vital piece of business on their agenda. That being the retention of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Word is that’s another reason Nagy won points in the organization was his willingness to keep the veteran coach in that position moving forward.
#Bears HC Matt Nagy would like to bring Vic Fangio back as the DC. (Via @PSchrags)
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) January 8, 2018
Understand that this is a good development. Nagy is 39-years old. He’s a young, up-and-coming coach who’s been groomed by one of the best in the business in Reid. He also has an unwavering belief in Trubisky as a quarterback. That will prove key in the months and years to come. If Nagy shows the same play calling prowess he did in Kansas City over the past month then the Bears offense, and subsequently the team is about to get really interesting.
