REPORT: Bears to Hire Matt Nagy as Head Coach (UPDATE: It's Official)

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REPORT: Bears to Hire Matt Nagy as Head Coach (UPDATE: It’s Official)

Chicago Bears

That was fast.

A source tells Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times the Chicago Bears are expected to name Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Coordinator Matt Nagy as the team’s next head coach. GM Ryan Pace interviewed six potential head-coaching candidates in the week that followed John Fox’s firing after a 5-11 season and a disappointing three-year stint in Chicago. Nagy was the sixth interview, which was held on Sunday after the Chiefs’ playoff loss to the Tennessee Titans.

We profiled Nagy and his candidacy here.

Nagy has worked his way up through the coaching ranks in a variety of positions under Andy Reid at two different stops. He started as an intern for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2008, moved with Reid to Kansas City to become the team’s quarterbacks coach in 2013, and took over full-time offensive coordinator responsibilities in 2017.

When the Chiefs started 5-0, Nagy’s name started to pop up as a potential future head coach before a mid-season slump seemed to sour some on that possibility. But when Reid handed over play calling duties to Nagy in Week 13, the offense responded by averaging 28.6 points in their final five games in which the team went 4-1.

Nagy has spent his entire career working with quarterbacks, and that probably worked in his favor considering the Bears’ investment in Mitch Trubisky. He also spent time developing Patrick Mahomes, a rookie the Chiefs moved up to get in the 2017 NFL Draft. Reports surfaced that Nagy and the Chiefs thought highly of Trubisky leading into the draft, but as we know by now, the Bears beat them to the punch.

The move is a bit of a surprise, if only because there were no reported second interviews. So Pace must have liked what he heard from Nagy in Sunday’s interview, which came only a day after the Chiefs blew a 21-3 lead in an opening round playoff loss to the Titans. Once confirmed, the Bears could look to move quickly in order to retain defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, whose contract officially expires at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.

The Bears reportedly have a new, offensive-leaning head coach to take the team into a new era. Pace has his guy; it’s all on him, Trubisky, and Nagy now.

UPDATE: And the Bears have made it official:

Filed to: Chicago Bears
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Author: Luis Medina

Luis Medina is a Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at@lcm1986.