Ryan Pace listed all the reasons he loved Matt Nagy as the new head coach for the Chicago Bears. He’s young, an offensive specialist with a background in quarterbacks, been groomed by one of the best in the NFL in Andy Reid and is renowned for his personable leadership capability. Those are all good qualities to have in a head coach.
However, for the more superficial fans out there it could be Pace had another reason. Nagy just so happened to have a direct hand in beating not one but both of the future Super Bowl participants during the 2017 season. Not only that but he did so in back-to-back weeks with his offense shining in both games. How can that not get a team excited about their hire?
It started opening night against the defending champion New England Patriots. Not only that but it was in Foxborough. The Patriots had not lost at home against Kansas City since 1990, winning six-straight games going into that meeting. That was about to change.
Matt Nagy dissected two of the best-coached defenses in football
After a rough start to the game, the Chiefs offense began to roll. In posting over 500 total yards, quarterback Alex Smith threw four touchdown passes. The big hero of the night though was rookie running back Kareem Hunt who gashed New England for 148 yards and a touchdown. It was a clinic the Patriots had seen happen to them in their building for years.
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Nagy wasn’t done though. The next week Kansas City played hosts to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, a team that crushed the Bears 31-3 later that year. Nagy’s offense barely even broke stride from the week before. Philadelphia was a bigger challenge defensively though, but the Chiefs systematically picked them apart. They scored three touchdowns and most important didn’t turn the ball over.
It was a good demonstration of how Nagy was able to navigate the different styles of the defenses he played against, not to mention the different venues they played in. The results ended up being the same which was a lot of points and a victory. This is exactly what Pace knew his team needed. It wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that his interest in Nagy started as early as those first two weeks of the season. Nobody would’ve blamed him for that. It was quite the impression for an up-and-coming young coach.
