Kansas City Chiefs fans were overjoyed to get Matt Nagy back in 2023. He'd been their offensive coordinator before and felt like the perfect replacement for Eric Bieniemy, who'd left for Washington. Chicago Bears fans had tried to warn them that this move would have consequences. Perhaps not immediately, but in the future, Nagy's lack of true offensive prowess would come back to haunt the Chiefs. Sure enough, Kansas City missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014 this season, and its underachieving offense was the primary reason for it.
Patrick Mahomes had the worst season of his NFL career, throwing just 22 touchdowns to 11 interceptions and an 89.6 passer rating. The quarterback tearing his ACL as the team was knocked from the postseason picture appears to have been the final straw. Chiefs fans are out for blood, and the one name all of them are looking to is Nagy. Stats are being revisited, and it's dawning on them that the decline started right around the exact time the coordinator arrived three years ago.
The Bears' decision to dump Matt Nagy is finally vindicated.
They gave him every opportunity to build on what he started in 2018. Unfortunately, the former head coach was unable to make his own decisions. Assistant coaches got in his head that Mitch Trubisky was a waste of time despite his encouraging Pro Bowl season that year. Rather than stand up for his young quarterback, Matt Nagy took the advice as gospel, alienating Trubisky and plunging the Bears right back into the depths of uncertainty at the position. Then, just for good measure, he pushes to draft Justin Fields the year before getting fired.
Nagy has essentially coasted on that one season, seven years ago, when an elite defense carried him. Since then, it's been nothing but mediocrity. That Super Bowl victory in 2023, when he returned to Kansas City, was much the same. He didn't do anything but hitch a ride to a wagon that was already at full speed. Once he started making decisions on how to drive it, things started going wrong. Nagy may keep his job because Andy Reid is a loyal guy, but it's evident the bloom is off the rose either way.
