Matt Nagy Is Catching a Huge Break in Bears Coaching Staff Search

The Chicago Bears were already ahead of the curve when they hired Matt Nagy. Of the six teams that have head coaching vacancies, they were the second to fill theirs just behind the Oakland Raiders. As of this moment the other four remain open. This presents a huge advantage for the Bears in that it allows them to quickly attack the market of available coaches to build a strong staff of assistants. He already appears to have scored big on his most important hire. Word came out yesterday that significant progress had been made between the team and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio towards a new deal. Fangio's contract expired at midnight that same day. A source informed me that the progress was almost entirely thanks to Nagy.

"Nagy pitched he would make the offense much better and Vic can continue to build on his defense and that we wanted to get a 'ring' for him."

No new contract is signed yet but it appears Fangio is staying. With that critical side of the football taken care of, Nagy is free to focus on his area of expertise: the offense. One of the first orders of business will be finding an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach to help him further develop Mitch Trubisky. As luck would have it, recent developments have flooded the market with options.

Matt Nagy and Bears have wide open shots at highly proven assistants

If it's QB specialists the Bears are after than they couldn't have picked a better time to shake up their staff. Thanks to a series of surprise moves by other teams there are suddenly some excellent, experienced names available. It starts with Mike Shula. The former offensive coordinator was just released by the Carolina Panthers after seven seasons with the team. Shula has a decorated history when it comes to the quarterback position. He got a Pro Bowl out of Trent Dilfer in Tampa Bay. He did the same for David Garrard in Jacksonville. His best work though came in Carolina where he turned Cam Newton into a league MVP. The move is more surprising since the Panthers had the 12th ranked scoring offense in NFL this year. [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Cam-Newton-Explodes-for-4-TDs-349-Total-Yards-Dolphins-vs.-Panthers-Wk-10-Player-Highlights.mp4"][/video] Then there was another huge bombshell as the Seattle Seahawks parted ways with offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. He'd held that position since 2011, being the man directly responsible for the development of Russell Wilson into the superstar he is. He also got the most efficient season out of Brett Favre in his Hall of Fame career when they were together in Minnesota. The man knows quarterbacks better than most.

One must also include Todd Downing on the list. Though he was a failure as an offensive coordinator himself, the young assistant has proven quite effective as a quarterbacks coach. Matthew Stafford had his most productive season under his watch in 2011. Derek Carr went to the Pro Bowl in 2016. He's another possible huge addition and one Nagy should know well having gone against him in the AFC West. This is a huge opportunity for the Bears. One they no doubt are hoping to capitalize on.