Matt Nagy wouldn’t be human if he didn’t have regrets about how his Chicago Bears coaching career worked out. Things started with such promise. The team went 12-4, won the NFC North title, and came a missed field goal away from winning a playoff game. The future looked bright. Then things slowly came apart, bottoming out in 2021 with a 6-11 record. Nagy was fired and replaced by Matt Eberflus as the new head coach.
Since then, Nagy has kept a low profile, staying away from any meetings with the media. That finally changed during his first presser since returning to the Kansas City Chiefs as their new quarterbacks coach. He admitted that he almost chose to take a year off from coaching to recharge his battery and reflect on what happened. Instead, ever the optimist and challenge-taker, he decided to use his failures in Chicago as a learning experience.
“I want to use my experiences in Chicago to help me be better here for our team here in Kansas City…There’s a little bit of humility you have to have to do this.”
Matt Nagy admits his biggest regret.
Of course, not winning enough games is atop the list, but on a personal level, it was not being able to fulfill his original promise of elevating the Bears offense. Across his four years with the team, they never finished higher than 21st in total yards and were 29th, 22nd, and 27th in points scored over his final three seasons. After coming in with so much confidence he could duplicate the success he witnessed in Kansas City, it is clear he wasn’t prepared for how vast the challenge of running an entire team was.
“You have highs and lows and you learn. You have so many hats you put on at that time. You learn a lot. You rely on those experiences that you went through. They’re real-life experiences. I didn’t have that when I went into my interview with Chicago. But I had four years worth of real-life experience of a lot of different situations — offense, defense, special teams. How to deal with players. How to deal with media.”
Managing three or four people is far easier than 250. That was the gist of his statement. Matt Nagy is far from the first man to experience this. So many young coaches believe they’re ready to handle the responsibilities of being a head coach. Then as things unfold, they start to realize they weren’t as well-prepared as they thought they were. Remember, Nagy had only been an offensive coordinator for two years when he came to Chicago.
Subscribe to the BFR podcast and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Maybe things would’ve been different had he waited another year or two. As things stand, his chances of getting another head coaching job in the future don’t look great.
Again Nagy beating around the bush for a question and not providing answers. In that long statement he said "I learned a lot".