Chicago Bears fans have grown weary of players, coaches, and front office types who refuse to look in the mirror when mistakes are made. I have read it in their tweets, Facebook posts, texts messages, and voice mails.
Hopefully, then, Matt Nagy will move the organization into a more transparent place in the future. And if so, Tuesday’s press conference at Halas Hall might be remembered as the starting point.
“I called every single play in the second half,” Nagy said as he lifted the blame from former boss Andy Reid and placed it on himself. “I stand by it. I promise you I’m going to learn from it.”
Ah, openness, honesty, and accountability. How refreshing?
Nagy was his own harshest critic on Tuesday, calling the experience a “failure” while making references to situations he would have attacked with different play calls. The Bears’ new head coach promised he would grow and learn from his missteps and turn that into a strength moving forward.
Yesterday, Brett dove into Nagy’s controversial play calling in the Wild Card Saturday loss to the Tennessee Titans with a situation-by-situation breakdown attempting to answer why Kareem Hunt (the league’s leading rusher) was given just five second-half carries. In isolation, it’s damning. With context, it’s a combination of crummy timing and worse luck. We’re probably not discussing this if a handful of drops are catches.
It’s probably unfair to pin the loss on Nagy. And yet, Nagy still took it upon himself to own it and use it as a teaching point as he enters uncharted territory as a first-time head coach.
GM Ryan Pace seemed to find it refreshing, too:
Ryan Pace said he was in his hotel room watching the #Chiefs game the other night and had "mixed emotions” about the play calling in the second half. But he loved how Matt Nagy owned it when they talked about it.
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) January 9, 2018
Nagy could have hidden behind the human shield thrown out there by his former employer, but instead chose a different route — one that should endear him to fans yearning for honesty and accountability. Hopefully, it’s the first step in a more honest and straight forward direction.