Bear Digest

Former Bears Head Coach Lands Employment With a Strange Twist

Matt Nagy immediately coached the Bears to a division title in 2018 but after that it was all downhill as a play caller until now, as he will get to call plays again with a new team.
Gene Chamberlain|
Matt Nagy greets his staff at Soldier Field during warmups in his last Bears season against the Giants. Now he'll be Giants offensive coordinator.
Matt Nagy greets his staff at Soldier Field during warmups in his last Bears season against the Giants. Now he'll be Giants offensive coordinator. | Jon Durr-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Former Bears coach Matt Nagy has employment after all.

He has been hired by John Harbaugh and the Giants as offensive coordinator, according to NFL Network. Talk about strange pairings.

Apparently everyone will see if Nagy has finally learned his lesson about running the ball.

There actually was a connection here as both coaches worked for Andy Reid, Harbaugh when he was a special teams coordinator until leaving the Eagles in 2008, but before Nagy was part of the Eagles' staff later in 2008.

Nagy was fired after going 6-11 in the 2021 Bears season, his third straight without a winning record after their 2018 division title season.

The knock on Nagy always has been he doesn't know how to use the running game and the Chiefs' decision not to bring him back as offensive coordinator while returning to former Bears running backs coach Eric Bieniemy only supports this. Yet, he's joining a coach always known in Baltimore for a strong running game, defense and special teams.

In the end, this will all be good for Nagy because once again he gets out from under the shadow of Andy Reid and gets to call his own plays. While he was the Chiefs' offensive coordinator, he was basically operating Andy Reid's attack.

Will he do better now than when he called Bears plays? He'd better.

When Nagy took over as Bears head coach and play caller, Chicago finished 21st in his first year en route to the double-doink loss to Philadelphia in the playoffs. They did finish ninth in scoring that season, largely because of the touchdowns, field position and turnovers generated by the defense. Also, he had a running game that season with Tarik Cohen and Jordan Howard.

Nagy got rid of Howard, Cohen suffered a knee injury and the Bears'  running game completely collapsed.  Meanwhile, the defense lost coordinator Vic Fangio and couldn't support Nagy's weak attack.

The Bears finished 29th, 26th and 24th on offense in his final  three years, leading to Nagy's firing and Matt Eberflus' hiring.

Still, he managed two playoff spots in four years and kept them from having a losing record unitl his final year. They were .500 in 2019 and 2020.

It's likely to be a volatile mix but on worth watching in Big Apple.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.