Matt Nagy is already beginning to reshape his coaching staff after a purge arrived following the end of the regular season. Offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, tight ends coach Kevin Gilbride, and offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. In just 24 hours, the Chicago Bears found the latters’ replacement in the form of Juan Castillo. A 60-year old NFL veteran who worked under Andy Reid in Philadelphia as offensive line coach for over a decade from 1999 to 2010.
The big question people have though is what will Nagy do at offensive coordinator? His choice will likely go a long way towards determining whether he plans to give up play calling or not. There are plenty of rumored names out there including recently fired New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur, another Reid disciple. However, it seems the Bears might be looking in a different direction.
According to Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog, the team is looking to bring in Kansas City Chiefs quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka to fill the spot left by Helfrich. Hughes was on the hire of Castillo shortly before it became official on Wednesday.
When asked about the offensive coordinator job? He was a little less vague.
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Matt Nagy is going with familiar faces this time around
Back in 2018, Nagy wanted to get as many different voices around him as possible. He felt that would allow him to construct an offense with more diversity and depth. Not a bad idea, but it clearly never worked. By the look of things, he’s going the opposite direction this time. He spent five years with Castillo in Philadelphia and was with Kafka for a year in Kansas City back in 2017. A lot of people might not like that choice, but who exactly is he?
Well, fans will like the fact that Kafka is a hometown guy. He was born in Chicago, attending St. Rita High School before becoming a quarterback at Northwestern. He was drafted in the 4th round in 2010 by the Eagles and survived six seasons in the league as a backup. Eventually, he returned to Northwestern as a graduate assistant coach before quickly being scooped up by Reid one year later as an offensive quality control coach. Just one year later he became the quarterbacks coach in 2018. The same year Patrick Mahomes won league MVP.
It’s easy to say Mahomes’ success is due entirely to his talent and Reid’s coaching, but a sign of Kafka’s ability to prepare his guys came midway through the year when the MVP suffered a knee injury. Kansas City was forced to turn to Matt Moore who promptly stepped in and played extremely well. In two starts, he had 542 yards passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 105.5 passer rating.
Kafka is only 32-years old.
So his rise has been insanely rapid. The lack of experience is a definite concern, but he’s likely been well-prepared by Reid for such opportunities. His deep quarterback background can only help Mitch Trubisky. Something Helfrich couldn’t offer. He’s never called plays though, which sends a clear enough message that if hired it will remain Nagy on the call sheet.
