Chiefs staff changes: Nagy hired as Bears coach, Childress planning to retire

Chiefs coach Andy Reid will have some work to do on the staff front this offseason, as the Chicago Bears announced Matt Nagy as their new coach Monday and assistant head coach Brad Childress is planning to retire, sources confirmed to The Star.

In Childress, 61, Reid would lose a valued confidant and a nearly 40-year veteran with head coaching experience. His retirement, however, would open up the assistant head coach title, which Reid could use to retain an existing assistant with more money or lure a new assistant in a number of potential roles.

Even without Childress, Reid still has internal options to fill Nagy’s offensive coordinator position. Running backs coach Eric Bieniemy has experience calling plays, from 2011-12 at Colorado, his alma mater, while tight ends coach Tom Melvin also called plays at UC-Santa Barbara from 1988-90 and Occidental from 1991-98.

Nagy, 39, was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2016 after serving as the Chiefs’ quarterbacks coach from 2013-15. In early December, Reid gave Nagy more responsibility following a stretch in which the club lost five of six games.

The Chiefs lost Nagy’s first game as their primary playcaller — 38-31 to the Jets — but the offense recaptured its early season form, drawing interest toward Nagy, who interviewed for the Bears job on Sunday after the Chiefs’ season ended the day before with a 22-21 Wild Card loss to the Tennessee Titans.

Given the success another Reid disciple had this season, the Bears’ interest in Nagy makes sense. Doug Pederson, who was Reid’s offensive coordinator in Kansas City from 2013-15, has led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 13-3 record, tied with Minnesota for the best record in the NFC.

Internally, Nagy has been consistently praised by his players for his ability to relate to them and introduce fresh concepts to Reid’s West Coast offense. While Pederson learned Reid’s West Coast scheme nearly 20 years ago, Nagy has only been with Reid since 2008 and brings a different perspective.

Over the course of this season, players have also credited Nagy for at least some of the success the Chiefs have had with their college-style spread concepts, which helped them become only the second NFL team to produce a 4,000-yard passer (Alex Smith), 1,000-yard rusher (rookie Kareem Hunt), 1,000-yard receiver (Tyreek Hill) and 1,000-yard tight end (Travis Kelce).

This story was originally published January 8, 2018 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Chiefs staff changes: Nagy hired as Bears coach, Childress planning to retire."