Matt Nagy hoping to follow Doug Pederson's path to Super Bowl

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Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy not only both come from the Andy Reid coaching tree, they come from the same branch.

Pederson and Nagy were entry-level coaches together under Reid with the Eagles before they both became quarterbacks coaches and then offensive coordinators under Reid with the Chiefs.

They followed almost identical paths to NFL head coaching success, and now their teams are meeting in a playoff game, and Nagy is hoping to continue in Pederson’s footsteps one more giant step.

You know, I’ve got to tell you, when I first got into this league, I was a below quality control coach. I was the assistant to the assistant, and Doug was a quality control coach. And then he got the QB job and then I bumped up and got the quality control job. And then he got the OC job and I got the OC job — so we keep following this path. I told him at the Owners’ Meeting this past offseason, he got that Super Bowl, right? I’m trying to follow his lead here. He probably doesn’t want to hear that right now, but I want to stick on that path. Ton of respect for him.

Pederson and Nagy coached together with the Eagles from 2009 through 2012 and with the Chiefs from 2013 through 2015, with Nagy getting Pederson's job every time he was promoted. 

Pederson became head coach of the Eagles in 2016 and Nagy is now in his first year as head coach of the Bears.

Their lives grew even more intertwined on Sunday when Nagy’s Bears beat the Vikings to allow the Eagles into the playoffs.

Later that night, they were texting each other and congratulating each other and wishing each other luck and doing whatever best friends do when their NFL teams are about to face each other in a high-stakes postseason game.

“He is a great friend of mine,” Nagy said. “I have a ton of respect for him.”

Pederson and Nagy have a lot in common. Both were college quarterbacks, Pederson at Northeast Louisiana and Nagy at Delaware. Pederson played in the World League and Nagy played in the Arena League.

The biggest difference is that Pederson spent 14 years in the NFL. Nagy’s NFL playing career lasted one day at training camp with the Eagles during the summer of 2009, when he took reps for an injured Kevin Kolb.

Now here they are. Eagles-Bears in a wild-card-round game at 4:40 p.m. Sunday.

“It’s crazy to think eight years ago … we first got our start working together, putting in lots of hours,” Nagy said. “You go back, I can still remember the day that we were sitting in his office watching tape on Nick Foles, and going back to seeing that and talking with coach Reid.

“It’s amazing how fast time goes and how life is, with just these people. There’s others. There’s more people in that organization other than just Doug, but Doug and I were hip-by-hip for six years, and I think the world of him.”

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