PHOENIX, Ariz – What a difference a year makes for Matt Nagy.
Last January, he lost his job as Bears head coach. Just over 12 months later, Nagy is sitting in a seat not nearly as hot, one win away from his first Super Bowl championship.
Aside from a written statement, Nagy hasn’t said much about being let go in Chicago. He opened up for the first time at length Monday at Media Night.
“Everything shuts down. You’re in charge of however many hundreds of people are in an organization to in charge of nobody. That’s hard.”
His first stop post coaching was South Africa, where he spent two weeks with his wife for their 20th anniversary. However, the day he flew back, Nagy decided he was going to rejoin the Chiefs’ staff.
“It’s probably good for a few months to be away from it, but I know for a fact if I wouldn’t have coached, my wife would have wanted me to coach,” joked Nagy.
Nagy wishes he would have done some things differently with Justin Fields, specifically putting his confidence and body in harms way Week 3 of Fields’ rookie year against Cleveland.
Still, Nagy believes the Bears franchise QB will be competing for the Lombardi Trophy soon enough.
“Without a doubt. Y’all saw what he can do. He’s going to continue to keep growing. However you want to say it, whatever part of his game, but to do what he did from his rookie year to this past year – it’s only going to get better for him. He’s wired the right way. I got to see it first hand how he studies, how he practices, his passion for the game. He hates to lose. He’s always been that way.”
One thing Nagy hates about the way his career ended in Chicago? Only beating the Packers once.
