Matt Nagy knows what he'd do differently if he gets another NFL head coaching job
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Dan Pompei
Nagy has reflected on his Bears tenure and learned more from Chiefs mentor Andy Reid. Will he get another chance in this coaching cycle?
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — A helmet signed by the 2018 Chicago Bears sits on a shelf in the home office of Matt Nagy.
Above it are helmets from his days as a quarterback — from Manheim Central High School, the University of Delaware, the Carolina Cobras of the Arena League and the Philadelphia Eagles, where he took practice snaps with the team for one day when he was a coaching intern.
There are replica trophies from Super Bowl LVII and LVIII.
Then there’s his prized possession hanging on the wall. It’s a framed photo of him with Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid on the sideline with their call sheets, probably discussing a play. It was given to him by Reid after Nagy left to become head coach of the Bears almost eight years ago. Also in the frame is a card with a handwritten inscription from Reid, in which he expresses his affection and appreciation, referencing “the white board masterpieces” they created with grease pens and the Big Macs and Häagen-Dazs ice cream they shared.
The photo means more to Nagy than anything in the room because of his admiration for Reid. It was Reid who gave him his start in the coaching business in 2010 when Nagy was resigned to spending his life selling real estate. Reid promoted him three times before Nagy became head coach of the Bears.
At about 5:30 p.m. four times a week during the season, Nagy shows up at Reid’s office, or Reid comes to Nagy’s, and they walk to the cafeteria. Over dinner, they talk about the big-picture issues the Chiefs are dealing with, the offense Nagy oversees as coordinator and their families. Sometimes others sit with them, but it’s always the two of them. It is essentially a family meal, a source of nutritional and emotional sustenance.
If the Chiefs win their previous game, they have dessert all week. It is Nagy’s superstition.
“He’s adamant on that, so I try not to be the disruptor,” Reid says, chuckling about the sacrifice. “He puts it there, I eat it … but I have to cut back on the rest of my meal to handle the dessert.”
In ways both above and beneath the surface, Reid teaches and Nagy learns.
“I’m always watching him and taking whatever I see and putting it in my back pocket,” says Nagy, who at 47 is 20 years younger than Reid. “I didn’t do that very well when we were together before I became a head coach.”
If Nagy gets another chance to be a head coach, he intends to be more like Reid.
But it will be even more important that he be more like Matt Nagy.
When Nagy became the head coaching candidate everyone wanted during the 2017 season, he had been a coordinator for less than a year and had never interviewed for any NFL job.
As he prepared for his first interview with the Bears, he discussed his approach with his wife, Stacey, and their sons, Brayden, Tate, Jaxon and Jett. Brayden helped settle his father by telling him all he had to do to get the job was act like himself.
Lancaster County, Pa., is where Nagy is from, and his accent suggests he knows good cheesesteak.
Ed McCaskey also spent his early years in Lancaster County. Then, in 1943, McCaskey married Virginia Halas. Virginia, the daughter of George Halas, touched every Bear from Red Grange to Ben Johnson before she died last January.
The night before Nagy’s interview with the Bears, he found a bag of Hammond Pretzels in his room. Hammond Pretzels are made in Lancaster County. Nagy gave those pretzels to the McCaskey family during his interview, providing Virginia with what she once described as a “nice, warm feeling” and creating a bond between the matriarch and the coach.
Bears matriarch Virginia McCaskey quickly warmed to Matt Nagy, who won NFL Coach of the Year honors his first year in Chicago. (Courtesy of the Nagy family)
Nagy got the job, and “Be you” became his team’s motto.
But being you would get complicated.
Nagy couldn’t have known what it would be like to be the head coach of the NFL’s cornerstone franchise in a city where football influencers examine their team the way pathologists look at cells and fans react to every development, no matter how insignificant, with either hopelessness or jubilation.
His coaching circle was small after working for just one head coach and experiencing what Reid calls a “meteoric rise,” going from making airport runs to calling the shots in eight years. Hiring a staff was a struggle.
But Nagy didn’t need a coaching manual to know he needed to infuse hope and energy into a listless organization.
At that, he succeeded wildly.
In 2018, Nagy led the Bears through the NFL like a conga line through a wedding reception. Everything he did seemed perfect— from leaning on legendary Bears of yore, to running trick plays with cute names, to using defensive players on offense, to incorporating lively competitions in practices, to celebrating wins by hanging a disco ball in the locker room and having a dance party he called “Club Dub.”
“He kept it pretty simple as far as what we were asked, which was just for us to be ourselves,” wide receiver Allen Robinson says. “We were winning and everybody was buying in. It was exciting.”
Fueled by feel-good, the Bears finished 12-4, tied for the second-best record in the NFL, won the NFC North for the first time in eight seasons and Nagy was voted NFL Coach of the Year. They believed they were a team of destiny, and when kicker Cody Parkey lined up to kick a 43-yard field goal that would have given them an 18-16 wild-card victory over the Eagles, it appeared they might be who they thought they were.
But alas, Parkey’s kick was tipped, and the ball hit the left upright and then the crossbar before bouncing four times on the Soldier Field grass and landing at the 3, leaving Nagy’s jaw slacked.
The double doink… an unforgettable postseason ending 😳 @Gatorade
As a junior quarterback, Nagy led Manheim Central in Pennsylvania to an undefeated regular season. Then, in a semifinal game for the state championship, he threw an interception from the opponent’s 5-yard line with 28 seconds remaining that ended his team’s hopes — a play, he says, that “crushed my soul.”
The next season, he presided over a perfect regular season again. But in the semifinals, he threw another late interception in a close loss.
Hours before Nagy interviewed to become the Bears’ coach, his Chiefs lost a playoff game to the Tennessee Titans after having been 9-point favorites. Nagy blamed himself for the second-half play calling that resulted in zero points.
So Nagy knew tough losses.
But nothing was like the loss born of the missed kick that NBC’s Cris Collinsworth dubbed the “double doink.”
The following preseason, only three teams had better odds to win the Super Bowl than the Bears, as if maybe the spirit of George Halas would deliver them during the team’s centennial anniversary season. Even Nagy’s players thought they would Club Dub their way through 2019, and all would be as it was the year before, except the clanging coda.
When Nagy arrived for the season opener wearing the fedora Halas wore on the sidelines during the 1950s and ’60s, his players called him “Swaggy Nagy,” and everyone thought it was on.
At the time, nobody grasped the significance of the double doink. It wasn’t some cruel fluke — it was a correction, the universe realigning planets back where they belonged. And it was a hard stop on everything that had been.
The Bears lost that season opener to the Packers, and before long, it was evident that something had changed. Vic Fangio, who orchestrated the defense masterfully in 2018, was no longer with the team after becoming head coach of the Denver Broncos. Without him, the Bears fell from first in the league in interceptions and third in sacks to 25th in interceptions and 24th in sacks. And the offense Nagy had elevated the year before went limp.
When the Bears ran the ball just seven times in a loss to the New Orleans Saints, Nagy answered pointed questions by snapping, “I know I need to run the ball more. I’m not an idiot.”
As the heat intensified, Nagy found it increasingly difficult to follow his son’s advice. Be you? How about something else you?
As harsh as the media was with Nagy, he was as harsh with some of his players, including offensive linemen and quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
The Bears finished 8-8, but it felt like 0-16.
The following season, their record was the same, but they made the playoffs before losing in the wild-card round.
In the offseason of 2020, Trubisky found out what Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace thought of him when they traded for Nick Foles and declined Trubisky’s fifth-year contract option. Trubisky beat out Foles in an open competition in training camp but was benched after an interception in the third game of the season.
Heading into the next season, Nagy bought into a plan to draft Justin Fields in the first round despite having only two years left on his contract. Nagy thought he could bide time with free-agent pickup Andy Dalton and develop Fields the old-fashioned way, but in the second game of the season, Dalton was injured. Fields started the third game and completed 30 percent of his passes and had 1 net yard passing.
After the game, Nagy gave up play calling for the second time (he also did the previous season but resumed play calling at the start of 2021).
As his team unraveled, Nagy became more open — too open — to suggestions from players, assistants and staff members. That resulted in a string of changes in the weekly schedule and routine.
“With Matt being so personable and being open to opinions, everybody felt their suggestions had a lot of weight, as opposed to just being on board and trusting,” Robinson says.
By that time, a rift had developed between Nagy and Robinson, a team leader. In the offseason, Robinson was hoping for a contract extension. Instead, the team used the franchise tag on him, and Robinson and Nagy didn’t talk about that or anything else for months.
Nagy and his wife took their dogs and Stacey’s mom to one of Jaxon’s and Jett’s intrasquad flag football games. The boys, who are twins, were in sixth grade. After the opposing team scored a touchdown to take the lead, their volunteer coach told Jaxon, who was playing defense at the time, “You suck, just like your daddy.”
Stacey handed the dogs to her mother and turned to Matt. “Let’s keep our composure,” she said. “We don’t need this to be on TikTok.”
Her intention was to pull Jaxon and Jett out of the game, but they wanted to keep playing. Jaxon threw a long touchdown pass to Jett, setting up the 2-point conversion that won the game. The opposing coach then yelled that the Nagy boys should learn something about the run game, another shot at their father. With a little more than a minute left in the game, a league administrator finally told the coach to leave.
As the coach walked off, Nagy stopped him and spoke calmly. The game wasn’t about Nagy, his record or his play calling, Nagy told him, and it was his job as a coach and leader to think about the kids.
When things turned ugly in Chicago, Matt Nagy and his wife, Stacey, stuck together and did their best to smile through the trials. (Courtesy of the Nagy family)
“Even though I was the one being attacked, I could use it to help this young man understand how to be a role model and leader,” Nagy says. “I hope I impacted him a little bit because it was a learning opportunity for him. It was for me, too — don’t turn it into a fight in front of the kids.”
In the early days, the Nagys had taken a big swig of Chicago and all it had to offer. But by then, they weren’t getting out much except for an occasional meal at a quaint public house a few blocks from home, where they could sit in the back room with just one table by themselves. “We could go out there and just feel very safe,” Stacey says.
It was the time of year when orange and brown leaves wore dustings of snow when chants from Soldier Field first were heard in the condos across Lake Shore Drive.
“Fi-re Nagy! Fi-re Nagy!”
They chanted it at the United Center for Bulls and Blackhawks games, too, at Assembly Hall in Champaign during an Illinois basketball game and even at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where Bears fans came to watch their team play the Bucs. When Brayden and his Lake Forest High School football team played at Cary Grove High School, the chant came from the student section.
It hurt. But not as much as it hurt to think he was failing Bears fans, his players, and especially, the daughter of George Halas.
After a 6-11 season, Nagy was told of his fate. As Nagy packed his office belongings, a parade of staff members came through with hugs and well-wishes. They kept coming for hours, and he didn’t leave until 10 that night. He turned in his access card to Halas Hall with a 34-31 record, two postseason appearances with Trubisky as his quarterback and more gratitude than bitterness — much more.
“In the end,” he says, “I believe going to Chicago is going to end up one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
Nagy and his wife needed to get away — far away — so they went on safari in South Africa. He was thinking about sitting out a year and was prepared to turn down all offers — except one.
When Reid called, Nagy put down his binoculars. It wasn’t long before he was on his way to Kansas City to become Reid’s senior assistant and quarterbacks coach.
“It allowed us to come back to where we felt loved and respected, where we had a feeling of home,” says Stacey, who has been by Matt’s side for 31 years, since he was a high school sophomore and she was a senior.
When Nagy left Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes had just finished his rookie season and had yet to throw a touchdown pass. That year, Nagy and the other coaches had to teach him how to line up under center, how to practice an individual passing drill and how to watch tape. He had no clue about protections.
If the Mahomes that Nagy left was barely crawling, the Mahomes he returned to was soaring, having won a Super Bowl and an MVP award. He knew as much about protections as any player in the league.
The relationship could have become awkward. Instead, it grew to where Nagy says he loves Mahomes and considers him the equivalent of a son. Mahomes has attended high school football games for the Nagy boys for three straight years. Nagy and Mahomes often play golf together at Wolf Creek Golf Club, and Travis Kelce sometimes joins them. In the spring, Nagy, Mahomes and a group went on a golf trip to Colorado, where they played Castle Pines.
Matt Nagy and Patrick Mahomes have developed a close relationship since Nagy returned to Kansas City in 2022. (David Eulitt / Getty Images)
Nagy’s first season back in Kansas City, when his primary responsibility was to focus on Mahomes, was one of his most rewarding. Mahomes won his second MVP award and the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. After the victory, Nagy shared a group hug with Mahomes, backup quarterbacks Chad Henne and Shane Buechele and assistant coach David Girardi that felt redemptive.
“I was just so blown away to be a part of that,” he says. “It was a very emotional time because of everything I went through in Chicago.”
The following season, Reid promoted Nagy again. In his current position, Nagy relays play calls from Reid to Mahomes on the sideline, draws up game plans and influences the offensive philosophy. He came up with the offensive slogan for 2025 — “AAF,” which Nagy says can stand for “Andy’s Air Force” as well as “Aggressive As F—.”
Reid is the primary play caller but says Nagy often makes suggestions. “And if I feel like I’m in a rut, I give it to him and let him dial it up,” Reid says. “I guess the point is if he’s got something he likes, you go call it. I have that kind of trust in him.”
With the Chiefs, Reid always has been credited for offensive achievements, while struggles usually have been blamed on his offensive coordinators. And that’s been the case this year. Nagy is expected to be interviewed for head coach openings in January, but it won’t be because of the Chiefs’ offensive performance this season. If measured in yards and DVOA, the Chiefs offense has been acceptable. But if measured in impact on victory, it has been a significant disappointment – especially the late-game wilts.
Nagy’s appeal as a head coach is about more than what he can do to help his team get first downs and points, however.
Most coaches, especially those who have been to summits as Reid has, are surrounded by bootlickers. But all of them need someone who can tell them when they’re wrong. Reid says he can count on Nagy for truth – even if it’s hard truth.
“He gives you an honest answer, whether it’s good or bad,” Reid says.
Nagy tries to develop young assistant coaches on the staff, sharing mistakes he made and conducting mock job interviews. He has helped Chiefs executives, too. When then-assistant general manager Mike Borgonzi prepared to become a general manager, he and Nagy talked through scenarios and bounced ideas off one another. Borgonzi became general manager of the Titans in 2025.
As part of her new life, former Fox reporter Laura Okmin is coaching coaches interested in self-improvement. Nagy enlisted her for a project she calls “Blind Spots.” Okmin interviewed nearly 50 people who had worked with Nagy, asking about his blind spots. She presented their assessments to him in a 45-page report without attribution.
As difficult as it was for him to take in, he found it enlightening.
Nagy knows now that if he becomes a head coach again, he will try to hire an assistant who will tell him when he’s off course, like he does with Reid. He didn’t have that in Chicago.
But he also knows he will be true to his convictions and not be swayed too much by too many.
His focus will be on leading. He won’t be a play caller.
In a game of wild emotional swings, Reid is as consistent as a heartbeat. Nagy will always be passionate, but if there is a next time around, he intends to have a more controlled demeanor like Reid.
The culture he hopes to foster will encourage players to feel loose and free in their assignments and not be sabotaged by details, as he now knows his Bears sometimes became.
He will try to get ahead of problems, rather than chase them as he did with Robinson.
Nagy was one of the reasons Robinson wanted to be a Bear in 2018, and one of the reasons he said he wanted to join the Chiefs earlier this year.
“If he gets another chance to be a head coach, I think he’ll do phenomenal,” says Robinson, who was playing for the Rams in 2022 when he and Nagy met on the field before a game. Nagy apologized for not being more open with him the year before, and Robinson expressed his gratitude for what Nagy helped him achieve. They hugged it out.
Reid believed Nagy would be an excellent coach when he left the Chiefs in 2018. He thinks he’ll be a better one if he leaves again.
“What I saw in 2018 was a coach of the year,” Reid says. “And that’s what I still see — there’s a coach of the year in there.”
For that coach to re-emerge, Nagy knows he will need to adhere to his son Brayden’s advice, which he followed well in 2018.
“What I’ve learned,” he says, “is be me all four years, not just one.”
