New Bears coach Matt Nagy already knows Mitch Trubisky ‘inside and out’

It’s said that assistant coaches are always preparing for the day they get the opportunity to be a head coach.

For Matt Nagy, the new head coach of the Chicago Bears, that process reached its highest levels while he was offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs the past two seasons.

‘My interpretation of Mitch at the Combine was just he’s a little bit introverted, wasn’t sure if he had the intangibles, he looked a little shy’

One part of his preparation that is coming in especially handy was studying the quarterbacks entering last year’s draft. The Chiefs targeted Patrick Mahomes, whom they made the 10th overall pick. But along the way, Nagy studied more than a half-dozen prospects at the position — including former North Carolina standout Mitch Trubisky, who the Bears took second overall.

“One of the things that I feel like isn’t great for that quarterback position to come away with a judgement on is at the Combine, those 15 minutes,” Nagy told Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan on Movin’ The Chains. “I just don’t think it’s really fair, so what we did as a staff, with Coach (Andy) Reid and myself, is we brought these guys in for six to seven hours and we got to sit down with them. My interpretation of Mitch at the Combine was just he’s a little bit introverted, wasn’t sure if he had the intangibles, he looked a little shy.

‘We brought him in for six hours and here’s a kid that was completely different’

“But then we brought him in for six hours and here’s a kid that was completely different, was all into talking about what’s going on, on this play on the film, intently listening to us as we’re drawing up the plays on the board, trying to have him really understand and comprehend what we’re talking to him with, with the progressions. He was asking questions, he was motivated. And then you see the talent that he has, at North Carolina, all the things he could do.”

Nagy, who played quarterback at Delaware and in the Arena Football League and was briefly with the Philadelphia Eagles, feels he has a thorough understanding of Trubisky as a player and person. Nagy believes it will serve both well in their relationship.

‘Things happen for a reason, and here I am in Chicago with him’

“I know Mitch inside and out,” he said. “Things happen for a reason, and here I am in Chicago with him. So now I can use what I had on him last year and try to develop him as best as I can with the help of, obviously, all the other coaches and teammates around him.”