Matt Nagy endured plenty of criticism over his tenure as Bears head coach, and much of it was justified. But one thing that Nagy never did as the end drew near, was handle himself publicly without class.
“The one question they never ask you is how are you going to handle it the day you get fired?” Nagy said on “Fescoe In the Morning,” a Kansas City sports radio show on 610 AM. “That's a real moment. You know, and when they give you that news, you got to wake up in the morning and you gotta一 For me, I was very honest with the staff, with the coaching staff and making sure I protect them and understand, ‘Okay, this is what happens from today on for you guys. I won't be here anymore, but I'm going to be here to help out as much as I can.’”
Likely knowing his future was trending towards an end with the Bears, Nagy had time to prepare for that moment. Despite the prolonged lead up to his eventual firing, the key for Nagy was the same key throughout his past four years as head coach: to “Be You.”
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“That moment with the team, you know, it's authentic,” Nagy said on the radio show. “It's real. It's not, it's not easy. It's emotional. You build these relationships, and now you're gone. So dealing with that day, packing up the office and just a lot of memories, it's raw, you know? But at the same point in time, like I said, it does make you better as long as you handle it the right way.”
Nagy finished his time as Bears head coach with a 34-31 regular season record. He also went 0-2 in the playoffs. Nagy’s 52.3% win rate places him smack dab in the middle of the Bears all-time head coaching leaderboard, at No. 8 of 16 head coaches who have led the team.