Matt Nagy proved himself to be a tremendous head coach in his first year. He took a 5-11 team to a 12-4 record and a division title. The first for the Chicago Bears in eight years. For this he claimed Coach of the Year honors. The first to win it since Lovie Smith way back in 2005. It’s hard to remember that around this time last year, plenty of people were questioning the hire by GM Ryan Pace.
Nagy came somewhat out of nowhere. He’d only been offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs for two years and hadn’t even been a play caller for most of that time. His coaching experience in general wasn’t that long. Only 10 years. Compared to other candidates, he looked like a sergeant who had just been commissioned as an officer and then was offered the job of general.
That wasn’t the only problem either. Many held him responsible for the Chiefs’ disastrous playoff loss against the Tennessee Titans last January. A game in which they jumped to a 21-0 lead only to lose 22-21. The inability of the offense to generate any points in the second half was a big part of the story. Nagy took heat for that. However, a question still lingers.
Was he actually the one calling the shots?
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Hub Arkush reveals Matt Nagy didn’t cause Chiefs blunders
Pro Football Weekly columnist and longtime Bears insider Hub Arkush was asked about it in his weekly mailbag. It was then he revealed a fascinating bit of information. He was actually there during the Titans-Chiefs game and he revealed the problems had little to do with Nagy.
“First of all, Tom, when you say “both of his playoff losses,” you’re obviously hanging the Chiefs ’17 loss on him. I was on the sidelines for that one for Westwood with the national radio call and I can assure you that one was on the head coach, Andy Reid, more than it was on Matt. Also remember Travis Kelce went out late in the first half with a concussion, and his run blocking is very much underrated, so that one was about a lot more than just play calling.”
Nagy was somewhat vindicated a year later against Philadelphia. After a slow start in the 1st half which included three punts on five drives, he got things going in the 2nd. Chicago had drives of 62 and 80 at the end of the 3rd quarter and start of the 4th for 10 points. Then engineered a brilliant final drive with just 56 seconds left to get them in field goal range.
Everybody knows what happened after that.
People can stop worrying about Nagy’s play calling. It isn’t perfect but it is far from a weakness. Chicago’s offense is in good hands.
