Matt Nagy’s head coaching stock experienced a “massive setback” given his part in the Chiefs recent playoff meltdown.
The chances are apparently much, much better for the Kansas City Chiefs to bring back offensive coordinator next season after several weeks wondering if he’d be signed away by another team wanting to elevate him to their head coaching position. Unfortunately for Nagy, rather than getting a fair round of interviews, CBS Sports analyst Jason La Canfora says his stock has been marred by the Chiefs recent performance in their unexpected loss to the Tennessee Titans in the opening round of the playoffs.
Nagy was a hot hand leading up to the postseason for all the opposite reasons for this downfall. The Chiefs had slumped at midseaon after being the last remaining unbeaten in the NFL and were in danger of missing out on the postseason entirely after devastating losses to some of the NFL’s worst teams (e.g. New York Giants, New York Jets). Head coach Andy Reid passed the headset and playcalling duties to Nagy before the stretch run and the Chiefs offense not only came to life, but the team reeled off several wins in a row.
Then came the Titans loss. After opening drives that brought consecutive touchdowns and a quick 14-3 lead, the Chiefs began to slowly but surely settle into more of a conservative offensive posture marked by a lack of execution on all levels. The Titans blitzes became more effective as the Chiefs blockers were clearly confused by what was coming at them. Receivers were dropping passes from Smith, and the quarterback himself began to show a lack of confidence. The Chiefs, in short, became the shell of a team that lost 6 of 7 earlier this year.
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La Canfora notes this “debacle” on Saturday and says it’s the reason Nagy is unlikely to score a job after all.
"The young play caller was part of blowing an 18-point lead at home to a middling opponent with no passing game of its own, and systematically ignoring the league’s leading rusher in the process. “You can’t hire him now,” one grizzled front office exec said. “No way.”"
Nagy has already earned interviews with the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears this offseason, and he’s still a very young coordinator with great promise. He’ll likely get his shot one day soon if this offseason has, indeed spoiled his present stock. Hopefully he and the Chiefs can reverse course by learning from their mistakes in 2017.