KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Matt Nagy likes to describe his current situation as “back in the weeds.”
After four years as the Chicago Bears head coach, he’s returned to Kansas City as a senior assistant and QBs coach for Andy Reid. And that’s a significant change.
Nagy is now in charge of 3-4 people in the QB room instead of 250 with the Bears. His son also mentioned recently that Nagy seems to have more free time than before.
“There’s a little bit of humility that you have to have to do this,” Nagy said of accepting the position coach job with the Chiefs after the Bears firing, “but I really cherish it, because you’re doing it with good people.”
That part will be important as Nagy works to re-establish himself with the Chiefs after a few years away.
Nagy was previously with Reid in KC from 2013-17, starting as QBs coach before eventually getting promoted to co-offensive coordinator and then coordinator.
During that time, he worked on the offensive side with both Reid and current Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who was running backs coach.
“We’ve built a bond,” Nagy said of Bieniemy. “And I think the beauty between the relationships that we’ve had is that neither one of us have that ego where you feel like you know more than the other.”
That collaboration aspect should be important again in 2022 as their ideas mesh together in an attempt to help the Chiefs’ offense.
Bieniemy, when speaking to reporters Thursday, said that he kept in contact with Nagy during his tenure in Chicago. He went on to say that Nagy was “my guy,” and said he’d been a “great ear” for offensive ideas since his return to the team this winter.
“Every day, we talk about something different, whether was his experience as a head coach, or our families interacting, doing things together,” Bieniemy said. “So it’s been good. It’s a homecoming.”
Reid said Nagy’s relationship with Bieniemy and the other Chiefs coaches was a main reason it made sense to bring him back following Mike Kafka’s departure; Kafka was hired in February as the New York Giants’ offensive coordinator.
There had to be interest on Nagy’s side too, though. Nagy said Thursday he’d considered sitting out the year after getting fired by the Bears in January to recharge, but eventually realized that wasn’t the best option for him.
“Football’s in my heart. It’s in my blood, and it’s in my wife’s heart and my wife’s blood too. And my kids, they love it,” Nagy said. “And so why not come back to a great place — a special place — and get it going again?”
The talent Nagy gets to oversee likely played a part too.
Nagy was in KC for quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ rookie season in 2017 when he was the backup behind Alex Smith. He also went against Mahomes in 2019 when Chicago fell to KC, 26-3, at Soldier Field.
“Now to come back, four or five years later, and see in that room how much Patrick has grown, it’s amazing. It gives me chills to talk about it, because I also know his ceiling is even higher,” Nagy said. “And that’s exciting for all of us.”
Nagy also has been impressed with Mahomes’ humility thus far.
“He has a great balance of how to be a great quarterback, but yet be a great leader. He’s still coachable,” Nagy said. “You think a guy like this, like you’ve done everything. You won a Super Bowl. You’ve been to four straight AFC Championships. He’s so coachable, and he wants that.
“There’s a hunger there, and to me, that’s exciting.”
Nagy said, most of all, he was back in KC to continue to grow as a coach.
He says, in life, he’s tried to use any failures he’s had to become better and learn — with this Chiefs setup providing the next opportunity to follow through on that worldview.
“You want to use those experiences to make you better in the long run,” Nagy said. “And I feel like I’m still young in this profession.”
