Matt Nagy thought about stepping away from football after he was let go as coach of the Bears. But his familiarity with Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and others made it a no-brainer to return to the Chiefs.
“I want to use my experiences in Chicago to help me be better here for our team here in Kansas City,” Nagy said Thursday at team OTAs. “And there’s a little bit of humility that you have to have to do this, but I really cherish it because you’re doing it with good people.”
Nagy came to Kansas City with Reid in 2013 and served as quarterbacks coach until 2016. Nagy also served as co-offensive coordinator in 2016 before taking over sole possession of those duties in 2017—Mahomes’ rookie year.
Nagy was hired as head coach of the Bears in 2018 and the team went 12-4. But after consecutive 8-8 seasons and a 6-11 record last year, the Bears cleaned house, paving the way for a return to the Chiefs. When Nagy left Kansas City, Mahomes was the backup to Alex Smith. Now he’s one of the top players in the game.
“I was able to see him and Alex grow together, that partnership,” Nagy said. “And I was able to see him grow his rookie year from game 1 to the playoff loss against Tennessee and see that relationship build, and that stuck with Patrick, and that stuck with me. Now to come back four or five years later and see that room and 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, and that’s exciting for all of us. But for me now, as Coach and I talk, I just want to do whatever I can to help us and do whatever we can to be great.”
And though he’s only been back a short time, Reid says having Nagy back has been nothing but positive.
“I think he’s good for the quarterback room,” Reid said. “He’s been there and done that before and has a lot of experience under his belt. It’s great to have him back in there.”
When Nagy went to Chicago, Eric Bieniemy became Chiefs offensive coordinator and now they are working together again, though this time Nagy is working under Bieniemy.
“Nags is my guy,” Bieniemy said. “Me and Nags stayed in contact the whole time he was head coach in Chicago. It’s been great having him back here. Obviously, with him having the experience here, a lot of the things that we’ve done he’s familiar with it. It’s been fun, it’s been exciting. Every day we talk about something different whether it was his experience as a head coach or our families interacting and doing things together. So it’s been good. It’s a homecoming.
“He brings a lot because of that experience. When you talk about situational football, different situations that he’s been presented, opening new ideas to us all on how to view things, different schemes and how to attack things. So there are a lot of things that Nags brings to the table just because of that experience that he has, and then on top of that he’s just a hell of a coach. Plus, on top of that, we just enjoy him being around.”
And while Nagy is still getting familiar with backup quarterback Chad Henne as well as Shane Buechele and Dustin Crum, working with Mahomes again has been eye-opening.
“He’s just a special player,” Nagy said. “He’s rare. When Kansas City came to Chicago and you got to look across that sideline and see that dude over there, you’re thinking, ‘OK, maybe just score 24 instead of 42.’ I’m so excited to be in that room with him and just to see the personality that he has.
“He has a great balance of how to be a great quarterback but yet be a great leader. And really, he’s still coachable. Take a guy like this. You’ve won a Super Bowl, been to four straight AFC championships and he’s so coachable. He wants that, there’s a hunger there. And to me that’s what’s exciting.”