Former Bears head coach Matt Nagy spoke out publicly for the first time since being fired by Chicago in January after a tumultuous four seasons.
It didn’t take long for Nagy, who had planned on taking a year off, to land a new gig. He reunited with mentor Andy Reid in Kansas City as the Chiefs quarterbacks coach and senior assistant.
Nagy met with the Kansas City media on Thursday, where he would not escape questions about his failed tenure in Chicago. Naturally, the first question Nagy was asked involved his Bears exit, which was a brutal end to what started as a promising stint in 2018.
“I want to use my experiences in Chicago to help me be better here for our team here in Kansas City …” Nagy told Chiefs reporters. “There’s a little bit of humility you have to have to do this.”
Following a 12-4 campaign in 2018, it was all downhill for Nagy’s Bears over the next three years. Chicago failed to record a winning season and notably struggled offensively during that span, which ultimately led to the franchise moving on.
“You have highs and lows and you learn,” Nagy said. “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. …
“What it does is it really allows you to grow, but it puts things into perspective. In life, for me, a lot of my failures that I’ve had, I’ve tried to use to best of my ability to make me better.”
Nagy will take a step back as he goes from head coach to quarterbacks coach, where he’ll get to work with a familiar face in Patrick Mahomes. Nagy served as the Chiefs offensive coordinator during Mahomes’ rookie season — before he made his NFL debut — and it’s safe to say he’s excited for the reunion.
“He’s rare,” Nagy said about Mahomes. “But then when Kansas City came to Chicago and you gotta look across the sideline and see that dude over there. It’s like, ‘OK, maybe just score 24 instead of like 42.’
“I’m so excited to be in that room with him.”
