APPLE DOESN’T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE
Listen to Bears’ Nagy talk, and you clearly can hear a lot of Chiefs’ Reid
AVENTURA, Fla. — There are dueling arguments on Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s stature.
One side paints him as the lovable loser, a jolly character who has enjoyed modest success but never cemented himself as an all-time great because he hasn’t won a championship. The other opinion, one held by
Bears coach Matt Nagy and the many other products of his coaching tree, is that he’s an absolute sage.
While that debate is simmering as the Chiefs prepare to face the 49ers in the Super Bowl, Reid has no time for it. Legacy and public opinion don’t matter to him.
“I’m gonna enjoy this,” he said when asked what this game will mean for his career. “I’ve got a great team, very fortunate. And that’s all I care about. I don’t really care about the other stuff.”
Reid is seventh in NFL history with 207 wins and likely will pass Paul Brown next season. If the Chiefs keep rolling, it’s plausible he’ll catch Tom Landry. His .618 winning percentage is 28th all time, ahead of Landry, Pete Carroll and Mike Holmgren.
He gets ripped for being only 14-14 in the postseason and losing his lone Super Bowl appearance 15 years ago with the Eagles, but merely making it to 28 playoff games is impressive. He’s one of four coaches to do so, and his teams have made the playoffs in 15 of his 21 seasons.
Reid’s influence has made him a beloved mentor, and he has had 10 former assistants become head coaches. Offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is sure to be next, and quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka also seems to be on that track.
At 61, Reid has been a football father for his assistants. Nagy is 20 years younger and seeks his counsel regularly, even during the season. Reid always makes time and keeps a close watch on how they’re doing.
“I’m very proud of them for what they’ve done,” he said. “They’ve got a long road ahead of them. I hope they continue to coach and have success. I’m always there for support, and I’m their biggest fan. Unless we’re playing them, I’m their biggest fan.”
Reid’s personality has guided his protégés as much as his version of the West Coast offense. When the Chiefs talk about Reid, it’s easy to imagine Bears players saying the same things about their coach:
◆ Running back Damien Williams: “I feel like I’ve excelled in this offense because he was able to connect with who I am and how I am as a player.”
◆ Tight end Travis Kelce: “He’s able to have a conversation with anybody and make it feel genuine and real because that’s just who he is.”
◆ Wide receiver Mecole Hardman: “He just told me to be myself and go out there and have fun, so that’s what I did.”
Sound familiar? Nagy certainly has some originality, but the roots of “Be You” trace back to his nine seasons as a Reid assistant.
Nagy has a signature “Boom” celebration, one that players and fans fell in love with when the Bears went 12-4 in 2018, and even that seems to be something he saw from Reid.
Reid’s players are delighted by a similarly choreographed move that ends in Reid punching at the ground and leading a cheer of, “Let’s go, Chieeefs!” It’s quite a sight from someone who is an actual grandfather as much as he is a figurative one in his locker room.
“He tells everybody to show their personality because when he shows his personality, we all follow that lead,” Kelce said. “That [cheer] shows that he’s in it for the long haul, and he wants everybody in on this.”
It’s a vision of what Nagy might become, but there’s a long way to go. If he wants the chance to grow with the Bears, he needs to remind people a lot more of Reid next season.
Reid has all the pieces to make his system work. Nagy doesn’t. The Chiefs have the game’s most dangerous quarterback in Patrick Mahomes, a sturdy offensive line and a top-shelf tight end. Reid and Bieniemy work those weapons perfectly, and the Chiefs have been a top-six offense the last three seasons.
One of those was with Alex Smith as their starting quarterback, by the way. It helps to have Boy Wonder, but it’s not a requirement.
Nagy seemed to make all the right calls at first but fell flat this season. He can’t turn Mitch Trubisky into Mahomes. Tight end was a void. And inconsistent O-line play makes for a difficult starting point in solving those problems and others.
If the Bears make corrections through personnel moves, that’ll make Nagy’s playcalling work a lot better. Look at what the Chiefs have. Would they be any different had Nagy stayed as offensive coordinator?
Get him the pieces, and he might start looking a little more like Reid. Eagles coach Doug Pederson got a quarterback — two of them, in fact — and got that offense clicking. He won the Super Bowl two years ago. That’s a fruit-bearing branch of the coach tree.
Nagy, meanwhile, went from being on the verge of figuring that out to looking completely lost. He’ll undoubtedly be watching Sunday, rooting for Reid and examining what he still can learn from the man who taught him virtually everything.