Matt Nagy has made his respect and admiration for Andy Reid abundantly clear over the past two seasons. The longtime head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs gave the Chicago Bears head coach his big break in the NFL. Since then the two have remained close, texting often when they have the time. Nagy clearly wants to emulate the success Reid has enjoyed for so many years and has embraced many of the same philosophies.
If this holds true going into 2020, then don’t trust what Nagy has said up to this point regarding Mitch Trubisky. He remained steadfast in his support of the young quarterback after a disappointing 2019. One that saw him regress in every category from yards to touchdowns to passer rating. It was not easy to watch and few probably had a tougher time handling it than Nagy himself. He reiterated Trubisky made some progress in certain areas but still needed work in his footwork and how he read defenses.
This hasn’t stopped questions from coming up about whether the Bears might shakeup the depth chart. Perhaps bringing in somebody to push Trubisky from behind. Nagy and GM Ryan Pace were mum on that subject in their most recent press conference. However, all one has to do is look at Reid’s history. One that the Bears head coach was part of, to understand what is probably coming.
Matt Nagy learned from Reid that pushing a QB is critical
One thing about Reid during his long tenure is that loyalty to a quarterback is fine. Provided he’s playing well. When that starts to become a problem, one cannot be afraid of making a change. There are numerous examples of this scattered throughout Reid’s history. In 2005, his superstar quarterback Donovan McNabb had one of his worst seasons in years. He played just nine games, went 4-5, and posted an 85.0 passer rating. Far below the 104.7 of the previous year.
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So Reid decided to bring in some insurance, signing veteran Jeff Garcia in the 2006 offseason. Sure enough, McNabb came out of the gates strong that year. His passer rating rose to 95.5 and his TD-to-INT ratio had improved. Then he got hurt again. This forced Garcia to step in and he led the Eagles to the playoffs. Fast forward to 2008, McNabb again had his share of struggles with inefficiency and periods of poor play. He did eventually get to the NFC championship, but that didn’t stop Reid from bringing in Michael Vick the next year.
McNabb responded with his sixth and final Pro Bowl showing in 2009.
It wasn’t isolated to Philadelphia either. Reid did the same thing in Kansas City. Alex Smith had done great work through his first three seasons there, but in 2015 he underwhelmed in the team’s playoff run. So the Chiefs signed veteran and former Pro Bowler Nick Foles to come in as a backup. No doubt a test to see how Smith responded. He ended up throwing fewer TD passes that year (15) and was completely inadequate in their wild card loss to Pittsburgh at home.
That sequence proved to Reid that the team needed something more. A few months later they traded up in the 2017 draft to grab Patrick Mahomes.
If Reid reached such conclusions after his QBs had okay but underwhelming years, then one can imagine Matt Nagy has done the same after Trubisky’s mediocre run in 2019. The Bears may not sound an outright replacement, but one can rest assured competition in some form is coming.
