The Chicago Bears wasted no time hiring Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy as their new head coach, the day after they interviewed him for the position.
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Nagy, a former quarterback at DE and in arena football, has spent the last five years in different roles on Andy Reid’s staff, culminating in him leading one of the most innovative and explosive offenses in football this season.
A real estate salesman only nine years ago and an National Football League offensive coordinator for only one season, Nagy has called plays in only six games.
The move to promote paid off as the Chiefs who had only three offensive touchdowns in three of the four losses before the promotion preceded to score 26 points or more following the move.
According to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, Nagy will be the initial play caller for Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. The Bears were ninth in scoring defense under Fangio and 10th overall, but Fangio also has interest from Green Bay, and his contract expired on Tuesday. Had Kansas City won, Nagy could have been interviewed early this week but not hired. He is the assistant quarterbacks coach in Kansas City right now, so that familiarity with Nagy could be key.
This news isn’t terribly shocking, as Chicago interviewed Nagy on Sunday. The Bears will only be as good as the staff that Nagy is able to put together.
It’s the same dilemma that had most analysts as blindsided as newly signed quarterback Mike Glennon last April when the Bears drafted quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
That is telling considering Reid has five current National Football League head coaches that worked for him in his career: Carolina’s Ron Rivera, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh, Buffalo’s Sean McDermott, New York’s Todd Bowles and Philadelphia’s Doug Pederson.
Another name to watch out for is current Chiefs running backs coach Eric Bieniemy.
“I love you. Thank you”, Nagy said, referring to Veach, who last summer became the Chiefs’ general manager.
“I cherish every moment there”, Nagy said Tuesday, after also mentioning his “Blue Hen teammates”.
The one question that many Bears fans have is will current defensive coordinator Vic Fangio stay in Chicago?
Nagy, 39, was a record-breaking quarterback in college at DE and played six seasons in the Arena Football League.
Prior to 2016, Nagy spent three seasons as Kansas City’s quarterbacks coach and worked closely with veteran Alex Smith, who made his first Pro Bowl in 2013.
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“You know that I have a ton of respect for Vic, and we’re talking to Vic right now”, Pace said.
