Rumors were swirling over who should take responsibility for the Kansas Chiefs poor play calling in their playoff loss. Today, Matt Nagy took responsibility.
One of the big reasons Matt Nagy was a hot head coaching commodity was his ability to take over play calling late into the Kansas City Chiefs season and essentially turn their season around. Andy Reid had never relinquished play calling duties, but he did for Nagy. That means something.
However, when the Kansas City Chiefs lost their opening round playoff game to the Tennessee Titans, many were wondering who was to blame.
The area in which was being picked apart was the teams lack of commitment to the running game. Kareem Hunt started the game with six carries in the first quarter. With a 21-3 lead, they ran the ball five times in the second half.
Many speculated that in this particular game, Andy Reid took over as a play caller. It makes sense in theory. Reid has always been known from getting away from the running game a bit much when it is not necessary. Nagy was praised for his consistency in pounding the rock during their late season push with him as play caller. If anyone were to abandon the run, it would have been Reid.
However, in his introductory press conference, Nagy revealed the truth. He called the plays.
#Bears coach Matt Nagy said he called every single play for the Chiefs against the Titans.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) January 9, 2018
This means something and nothing at the same time. It means something because Nagy is calling the plays for the Chicago Bears. Situationally, with pressure on him, the play calling could have been better. Remember the Chiefs running an option on Third and Two along with the lack of Hunt? What the heck, Matt?
At the same time, the sum of Nagy’s parts still show him to be a strong play caller. An offense that had hit a funk, and had fans and media calling for a quarterback benching got right back on track with the introduction of Nagy.
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The five game sample of success should outweigh the one game of short doings. Especially when considering game flow and the injury to Travis Kelce.
Still, fans are going to remember the play off loss, not the late season wins. This is at least something to keep in the back of your minds for the next time Nagy is in a high leverage situation.