Per Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Bears have decided on their new head coach. Current Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy will be the next head coach of the Chicago Bears.
Matt Nagy, like Doug Pederson, comes from the Andy Reid coaching tree. Nagy has stuck with Reid his entire career, starting in Philadelphia in 2008 as an intern. He was promoted to quarterbacks coach when he left to join the Chiefs in 2013, following Reid. After Doug Pederson left to coach the Eagles, Nagy was promoted to offensive coordinator. Now, he gets his final promotion, coaching the Bears.
Reid handed over play-calling duties to Nagy late in the season, following a major skid. What Nagy did with the Chiefs is nothing short of remarkable. Nagy took a stagnating Chiefs offense and turned them around overnight, leading them to a playoff berth. They lost in the Wild Card Round to the Titans, but many reports believe Reid took back over play calling for that game.
Nagy comes from a coaching tree which includes successful coaches such as Doug Pederson, Pat Shurmur, John Harbaugh and Ron Rivera. However, many consider Nagy to be the cream of the crop. Even Reid is reported to have said something along those lines.
Nagy comes to Chicago at a young age, still only 39 years old. He was playing as an Arena League quarterback as recently as 2008 when he took a role as a coaching intern in Philadelphia. It’s unclear where Nagy will go with his staff, but one name to watch out for is Corey Matthaei. He is the assistant quarterbacks coach in Kansas City right now, so that familiarity with Nagy could be key.
Another name to watch out for is current Chiefs running backs coach Eric Bieniemy. Bieniemy has been with the Chiefs for as long as Nagy was, and has previous NCAA experience as an offensive coordinator. However, it seems likely that he is the new Chiefs offensive coordinator, as Ian Rapoport thinks he has the inside track to that job.
The most pressing question regarding Nagy, however, is that whether he will be able to keep Vic Fangio. Reports from Fox’s Peter Schrager were that Nagy would be willing to do so, but it isn’t solely his decision. Fangio is free to speak to teams come midnight tonight, and rumor is that the Green Bay Packers are trying to get him to do just that.