With the Las Vegas Raiders announcing the hiring of Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and the Arizona Cardinals hiring Mike LaFleur, the NFL completed another massive coaching carousel this offseason. But the biggest loser in this hiring cycle is someone many Chicago Bears fans are very familiar with: Matt Nagy.
Nagy's offseason coaching buzz was fueled by Dan Pompei of The Athletic, who wrote that he would do things differently if he got another head-coaching gig. He also had a sit-down interview with Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports and tried to present himself as a wiser, more self‑aware coach.
But ironically, it did not move the needle. The NFL wasn’t convinced. Instead, Nagy was named the New York Giants' new offensive coordinator. As Nagy tries to re-establish himself in New York, there are two damning reasons why he was never a serious candidate.
The Chicago problem: A legacy that still haunts him
Many Bears fans probably found it puzzling that he was considered for any openings. His tenure with the team began with a bang, culminating in a 12-4 record and the NFC North title, and he was named Coach of the Year. But his last three seasons were a total disaster, and he never had the leadership skills to handle the crisis.
Nagy was hired to modernize the Bears’ offense. Instead, it kept regressing and became a predictable, disjointed unit. He even relinquished playcalling duties twice, both to Bill Lazor, when the offense crumbled, and the offense looked better compared to when Nagy was calling plays.
But the biggest indictment against Nagy is his mismanagement of the quarterbacks. When Mitchell Trubisky became the latest Bears quarterback to fail, he and then-general manager Ryan Pace tried to salvage their careers by drafting Justin Fields in 2021. But in his pro debut, Fields was sacked nine times, which sealed Nagy's fate as the head coach. He forced scheme over fit, system over player, and ego over practicality. The whole league never forgot.
The 2025 Kansas City collapse sealed his fate
After being fired by the Bears, Nagy returned to Andy Reid’s staff, hoping to rebuild his reputation. While the Chiefs won consecutive Super Bowls in 2022-23, he presided over the worst version of the Chiefs offense in the Patrick Mahomes era. And in 2025, the Chiefs collapsed to finish 6-11, with Mahomes suffering a torn left ACL and LCL in late December.
It was even more telling when Mahomes himself expressed frustration that the offense lacked consistency and accountability, and desperately needed new ideas moving forward, when asked by local media last month. He didn’t name Nagy, but he didn’t need to. And even a bigger irony: the Chiefs replaced him with Eric Bieniemy, his former colleague in Kansas City from 2013-17, after he did God's work as the Bears' running backs coach in 2025.
When the face of the league signals that the offense needs new ideas, and you’re the offensive coordinator, that’s a career‑altering indictment.
Read more: Ryan Poles better read Bears' history books to avoid repeating mistakes in 2026
Now, Nagy is taking a job far below the one he spent the entire offseason campaigning for. And early reactions to his hiring have not been kind. In an offseason full of winners and risers, no one lost more than Matt Nagy.