People need to start giving Matt Nagy some credit. This guy continues to find creative ways to motivate his team each week. After the first win of the season, he knew he couldn’t let the Chicago Bears get complacent knowing they were about to face an Arizona Cardinals team that is struggling a lot. He needed a way to get them focused.
Rather than just give a locker room speech or something like that, he took a more creative route by being particular in his choices for game captains. Appearing on “Coffee with Coach” which he does each week, Nagy announced his choices for Week 3 would be Bobby Massie, Sam Acho, and Prince Amukamara.
On the surface that would seem somewhat unusual. Massie wouldn’t be considered one of the primary leaders on offense. Sam Acho is their backup outside linebacker. Amukamara makes some sense given the recent success they’ve had but still. It’s an unusual group. So what gives? Turns out there’s a method to the madness.
According to Coach Nagy, who has the best moves on the team? Find out NOW on this week’s #CoffeeWithCoach! @DunkinDonuts | #DaBears pic.twitter.com/kM9H3m7piI
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 21, 2018
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Chicago Bears choose captains with deep Arizona ties
The connection is the team they’re about to play. Massie and Acho were both drafted by the Cardinals in the 2012 and 2011 drafts respectively. Both were 4th round picks, which is a fun little fact. The other thing they have in common is both weren’t given new contracts by their original team despite playing pretty well at times for them. One can imagine they still harbor a little resentment for that.
As for Amukamara, people don’t remember that he grew up in Arizona. He played his high school football there. After a successful run at Nebraska, he was considered one of the best corners in the country. The Cardinals, who picked 5th in the 2011 draft, needed one. It made for such an obvious story. A hometown boy returns to help the team he grew up watching.
Then Arizona took Patrick Peterson instead. While it’s hard to fault them given how good Peterson has been, one can imagine Amukamara did and still does think he’s the better player. He’s only gotten to play against them once before in his career and that was way back in 2014. He is a much better player now than he was back then.
If any three men will be able to convey the desire to beat Arizona on Sunday, it’s those three. Nothing provides motivation like the belief you were slighted by a team because they felt you weren’t good enough. It should be interesting to see how that develops.
