Matt Nagy has strengths as a head coach. One of the most underrated is his ability to identify talent. GM Ryan Pace credited him with being a major advocate to draft Jaylon Johnson last year. A decision that has worked out quite well. Nagy was also a big of Justin Fields. However, despite his keen eye for talented players, there has been one fatal flaw with Nagy people soon found out. His lack of understanding on how to best use them.
Personnel handling might be his biggest weakness. The common accusation made by experts with Nagy is he doesn’t understand how to put his players in the best position to succeed. He can envision the possibilities, but he doesn’t have the detailed mind to make it happen. A perfect example of this is Cordarrelle Patterson. Dan Pompei of The Athletic did an outstanding deep dive on the Atlanta Falcons’ breakout star. In it, he revealed that Nagy was a major driving force behind signing the former 1st round pick.
“When Patterson became a free agent after one year with the Patriots, Bears coach Matt Nagy pushed to sign Patterson, and after the Bears did, the coach said he was “like a kid in a candy store” with him. He didn’t eat much candy in their first year together, however, giving Patterson only 28 scrimmage touches.”
That sums the coach up so well.
Keep in mind Patterson had 63 offensive touches the year prior in New England. That Nagy could manage less than half proved he didn’t have a true grasp of what he had. It wasn’t until 2020 that the Bears finally started feeding Patterson the football more on offense. Even then it felt like it was out of necessity than design since it didn’t really start happening until after Tarik Cohen was lost for the season to a knee injury.
For all the contributions he made to the Bears in his two years, Patterson never really got past the label of kick return specialist. At last, things changed this year. Under the guidance of Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith, he is in the midst of a career year with 1,102 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns. He has become one of the best offensive weapons in the entire NFL.
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Matt Nagy should consider scouting down the line
There is no denying the guy has a sharp eye for players that can excel at the NFL level. He deserves respect for his scouting ability. If he were able to get that talent and understand how to maximize it on the field? He’d likely be one of the best head coaches in the league. As it stands, Nagy the scout almost saved Nagy the coach. It will be interesting to see if he ever learns lessons from how things went south in Chicago.
The Patterson experience might end up being one of them. A vital experience that shows the absolute necessity of being able to mold the offense around what your players can do rather than trying to shove them into a rigid offensive system. Matt Nagy always had the right idea. He just ran into the same problem many coaches do. A lack of understanding on how to implement it.
An unfortunate weakness to have.
This is why being a head coach is so difficult. It is also why the Bears have struggled for the past decade to find one. It is a job that demands a lot. Only a handful of guys are capable of doing it at a high level. It is exactly like quarterbacks. Either you have one or you don’t. Chicago is still searching for theirs.
