Nobody is coming out of last night unhappy for the Chicago Bears. However, one could be fooled into thinking there were some upset guys on the sideline at times during the game. Perhaps the most visual was quarterback Nick Foles. At one point in the second half, he was spotted having an animated verbal exchange with head coach Matt Nagy following the end of a drive.
Troy Aikman speculated on commentary it was about Nagy’s decision to have a personnel switch in the middle of a drive. This despite the offense having success going hurry-up most of the sequence. That decision led to Foles being strip-sacked and ultimately forced them to settle for a field goal.
The quarterback clearly wasn’t happy with that call and seemed to make those feelings known on the sideline. So what exactly was said? Nagy explained during his Friday press conference.
“Wasn’t [Foles] criticizing me or me criticizing him,” Nagy said.
“Everyone’s angry and upset because we’re in such a great place and then all sudden that happens. That part there, I like the fact that he’s communicating that way. And now, it’s just for us, we just got to keep growing as to, ‘OK, next time we get in that situation, how do we communicate through that to put our team in the best situation possible?’”
It’s nothing new. Such exchanges happen way more often than people think.
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“It’s just probably magnified because we had a sack…You guys would never even know it if we would have ended up throwing a touchdown to [Patterson] there in the corner.”
Matt Nagy wants his quarterback to be vocal
If anything, Nagy probably would’ve been more insulted if Foles said nothing to him after the drive. It’s important to remember these guys are competitive. They want to win. When competitive emotions run high, it can lead to animated discussions on the sideline. Don’t forget last season the same thing happened between Nagy and Mitch Trubisky in Washington.
It is part of the game. Nagy doesn’t mind stuff like that. If anything he encourages it. That tells him the players are engaged and focused on winning the game. His job is to listen to them and find a solution to the problem.