Matt Nagy Found A Genius Way To Help Players Remember Plays

Matt Nagy isn't a perfect coach when it comes to running an offense. He has his flaws. That much was proven last season. The pass-happy tendencies. The inability to better adjust the system around the players he had. It could be frustrating to watch. Yet the man also has his share of strengths. He shows a knack for crafting situational plays that get his receivers open. Perhaps the most impressive is his sheer creativity when it comes to gadget plays.

One of the biggest keys to success on offense in the NFL is being able to catch defenses by surprise. Gadget plays can do that when executed properly. The Bears have done that multiple times under Nagy's watch. Yet there is a challenge to installing such plays. Since they aren't a normal part of the usual playbook, getting players to remember them is difficult. So he and the coaching staff had to get creative.

The solution was rather ingenious and hilarious at the same time according to Adam Jahns of The Athletic.

At first glance, there appears to be a picture of John Travolta from the movie, “Saturday Night Fever,” to the right of Nagy’s television in his call-sheet poker room.

You know the look. Finger pointed high in the air. Sharp white suit.

But that’s not Travolta.

“That’s Mitch,” Nagy said.

It’s the edited creation of Nagy’s quality control coaches. It’s a play install from the Bears’ 12-4 season in 2018 that features quarterback Mitch Trubisky in a white suit...

...There is another one that appears to show off the muscular physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But that’s been edited, too.

“That has coach (Mike) Furrey, our wide receivers coach — that has his head on there,” Nagy said. “To tell you the truth, I forget what we called that play, but, so you can imagine, 20 of us sitting in an install room and that’s the first picture with a play name on it. And then we install the play. So that’s kind of the funny part.”

Matt Nagy uses doctored images to help get plays to stick

If players are presented with regular text about a play, the odds of it sticking in their brains is low. Not without constant repetition. A better way to get them to remember it is two-fold. A creative name for it like "Santa's Sleigh" or "Willy Wonka" followed by a cleverly doctored image that is unforgettable. This way the players don't have to try as hard to know what they must do.

This is a tactic that was born in the college ranks. Teams would show poster boards with pictures on them from the sidelines. The offense would see them and immediately know what the play call is. Nagy seems to have borrowed from that same philosophy to help the Bears master a vital part of their offensive approach. Given how successful they've been with trick plays, one can't argue the strategy.