Vic Fangio was Matt Nagy’s top choice

Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Pace confirmed that Matt Nagy preferred Vic Fangio to stay on as defensive coordinator.

Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Pace addressed a variety of subjects in his offseason press conference, including the decisions made to fill out the coaching cabinet. Pace was asked about the relationship between Matt Nagy, the head coach, and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, one of the few names kept on from last years coaching staff.

Pace said that one of the best parts of the interview was that Nagy had Fangio as the top candidate among his list of defensive coordinators to keep.

Nagy also spoke at the combine and talked about how it is a different experience for him. He talked about how last year he only went through offensive drills and offensive meeting. Both Ryan Pace and Nagy mentioned that a part of the hiring of Brad Childress was that he was only the coach with Matt Nagy last season, and with Nagy doing so many other things that a first-year head coach would have to do, that Childress had to be brought in to keep Nagy’s offense moving forward. Nagy is completely involved in the offense.

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It is very clear that in the early going, he is going to somewhat handoff when it comes to the defense. Nagy will be in those meetings and will chime in when he has to. However, he knows most of these players are Fangio’s, the scheme that is not changing is Fangio’s and while he is putting his offense together with Childress, Fangio is a well-oiled machine on the other side.

This is likely what helped entice Fangio to stay. He is the 2018 version of Wade Phillips with even more familiarity with his players and his head coach is going to give him the freedom to do what he wants. It has the makings of a potentially strong relationship.

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