INDIANAPOLIS – Before being hired as Bears head coach in January, Matt Nagy spent his first 10 NFL seasons working for Andy Reid with the Eagles and Chiefs.
"This is one of my favorite guys, Matt Nagy," the Kansas City head coach said at the NFL Combine. "You are getting somebody that is extremely intelligent. Works very hard. He is honest, he will shoot you straight. When he stands up there to tell you, it's going to be the truth, which helps in your job."
Nagy entered the NFL on Reid's staff with the Eagles in 2008 as a coaching intern before serving as a coaching assistant in 2010 and offensive quality control coach in 2011-12. When Reid became head coach of the Chiefs, Nagy joined him in Kansas City as quarterbacks coach from 2013-15 before being promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2016 and offensive coordinator in 2017.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid chats with Matt Nagy during a 2016 game in Kansas City.
"He will be a great leader," Reid said. "He is a leader of men. Not just of the office and the people he has to deal with there, but the football team. He will give them direction and I think with the character on your team they will understand that and they will follow him. In time, I think good things will happen for the Chicago Bears."
The only member of Reid's staff with the Chiefs to join Nagy with the Bears is veteran coach Brad Childress, who was hired as a senior offensive consultant.
Childress has spent 19 seasons as an NFL coach, including a stint as head coach of the Vikings from 2006-10. He worked with Nagy the past five seasons with the Chiefs.
"That is great for Matt," Reid said. "It gives him one more voice on the offensive side that kind of speaks the same language he does. The other coaches are kind of new to it. If Matt has to go talk to the media, Brad can be in there and just keep the conversation rolling on the installs for the coaching staff, and that is priceless."
Reid doesn't possess a crystal ball, but he's confident that Nagy will excel in Chicago.
"He will bring a certain toughness to the group and he is a very intelligent guy," Reid said. "He is a great people guy, which is a big part of the job. You have to have a connection with the players and he has that and will have that.
"They will trust what he is doing. He isn't going to ask them to do acrobatics or anything. He is going to ask them to get better at football and guys buy into that. He will keep it that simple for them. He has a good coaching staff. The fact that they were able to keep [Vic] Fangio on the defensive side is big for them. I think they have a good solid staff there."
