Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace have done an incredible job with the Chicago Bears this season. The GM put together what could easily be called the best offseason anybody could have in 2018. He signed a slew of talented free agents like Allen Robinson and Trey Burton, drafted three starters in Roquan Smith, James Daniels, and Anthony Miller before ending it by trading for Khalil Mack.
Last but not least he hired Nagy himself. The young head coach was a wild card from the jump. He’s only served two years as Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator and been the NFL for 10 overall. He was still an unknown to many. Yet that didn’t stop the Bears from putting him in charge of their prized young QB, Mitch Trubisky.
The results speak for themselves. Trubisky is a Pro Bowl alternate despite missing two games with an injury. The offense is in the top 10 in scoring and the team is 10-4, winning its first division title in eight years. What these two men have done after the disaster that was 2017 is nothing short of miraculous.
Even so, as is typical of the NFL, they still can’t get any respect from the league at large.
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Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace both don’t lead their respective NFL award polls
Tom Pelissaro of NFL.com decided to conduct a poll amongst NFL executives across the league to determine who the leaders are for every notable award from MVP to Rookie of the Year and of course Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year. Nagy was already voted for the former by the Associated Press. One would think the league agrees, yes?
Wrong. It seems the majority of them are in love with Los Angeles Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn.
“The Chargers have won 20 of their last 26 games, are tied for the AFC West lead in Lynn’s second season and will make their first playoff appearance in five years, all while playing virtual road games at home in a soccer stadium, with star pass rusher Joey Bosa missing over half the season and running back Melvin Gordon sidelined recently.”
Oh really? Five years?
What a miserable existence the Charger fans must’ve experienced. Never mind the fact that Nagy ended a drought that was three years longer and did it without a possible future Hall of Famer in Philip Rivers as his quarterback. Unsurprisingly the same argument can be used for the guy who beat out Pace for the executive honor, Chris Ballard of the Colts.
“He’s rebuilding the team and the organization, but here’s the other thing that’s one of the toughest parts of the job, is he hired a really good head coach,” said an NFC executive who voted for Ballard. “And he did it after what could’ve been a train wreck with the Josh thing.”
Are people bothering to note that he wanted to hire McDaniels in the first place and that entire debacle was partially his fault to begin with? The move for Frank Reich, while successful, was thanks in large part to a humungous piece of dumb luck. Add in the fact his “rebuild” was accelerated by the return of star quarterback Andrew Luck and it’s hard to be too impressed by Ballard compared to Pace.
Then again people shouldn’t be surprised these days that the Bears don’t get any respect.
