Matt Nagy, Mitchell Trubisky a Perfect Duo to Grow Together in Chicago

The Chicago Bears want their Jared Goff experience. They want and need the quick turnaround of Mitchell Trubisky, their promising though still raw quarterback who they invested heavily in during the 2017 draft.

Now they've found a young head coach for their young quarterback by hiring Matt Nagy on Monday morning. Nagy, who spent the last two seasons as the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, will be tasked with guiding Trubisky down the Goff path and making sure the Bears didn't give away three picks (including a 2018 third-rounder) for nothing but a fizzle, then a flop.

Youth is a theme for the Bears core, with Trubisky set to enter his second season at the age of 24 and running back Jordan Howard—who has piled up 2,435 rushing yards over two seasons—having turned 23 in November.

Now Nagy enters, and although the Rams' Sean McVay also comes to mind immediately as the millennial head coach, the Bears' new sideline boss is still far less grizzled and grey than most head coaches. He'll turn 40 years old in April, which makes him the league's third-youngest head coach.

While it'll surely be nice for Nagy to bring the average age of the annual head coach class photo down just a touch, his youth serves a much greater purpose for the Bears. If their young quarterback and coach click, then Chicago has put in place the two essential pillars for a successful rebuild, one that can lead to winning quickly and returning to the postseason for the first time since the 2010 season.

That was the year the Bears won the NFC North on the strength of an 11-5 record. They've had only one season above .500 since then, and the John Fox era of misery ended with a 14-34 record, torching any shred of hope or optimism.

But now there's reason to believe again because of Nagy's quick ascension, and his offensive mind that can adapt to the talent he's given.

As former Bears scouting director Greg Gabriel noted, Nagy's football mind is so highly regarded that Chiefs head coach Andy Reid did something he's never done before:

Nagy was given play-calling duties for the final five games of the Chiefs' season. When he took over on the headset, their season was spiraling into a free fall. Remember the opening of Mad Men? Picture that, just faster.

The Chiefs had lost five of their last six games and were a shell of the team that started the season undefeated over the first five weeks. During that 5-0 stretch, the offense resembled a raging bull much more than the cute kitten the unit would change into at midseason. The Chiefs averaged 32.8 points per game when they were undefeated and then only 18.0 points over the next six games.

Suddenly, their division-title and playoff dreams started to slip. Then, the offense spiked upward again once Reid handed the keys over to Nagy.

Over the final five games, the Chiefs averaged 28.6 points. After just two games of what was then an experiment, Nagy had already earned high praise from his boss and mentor, via Pete Sweeney of Arrowhead Pride:

Nagy has been groomed for quite some time while spending his entire coaching career working with Reid. That started in 2008 when he was an intern with the Philadelphia Eagles. Eventually, the former quarterback worked his way up to coaching that position, a role he held from 2013 to 2015 before taking over as Kansas City's offensive coordinator.

Experience isn't an issue then despite his youth among the head coaching ranks. And developing a young quarterback isn't foreign to him either after the Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes with the 10th overall pick in 2017.

With Nagy's influence, Mahomes grew up fast as an NFL quarterback, following the blueprint laid out before him by making veteran Alex Smith expendable. Mahomes finished the preseason with a 109.3 passer rating, and then he averaged 8.1 yards per throw on 35 attempts during his first regular-season start.

The difference with the Bears is that they don't have the luxury of waiting around on Trubisky and rolling with a seasoned veteran as he learns.

They need results, and they need them fast from a quarterback who was handcuffed during much of his rookie year.

Jim Mone/Associated Press

Nagy was reportedly high on Trubisky prior to the 2017 draft, according to Adam L. Johns of the Chicago Sun-Times. Through draft prep and evaluation alone he's familiar with Trubisky's strengths and weaknesses, and his stance on the Bears' hopeful franchise pivot surely went a long way toward winning him the job.

To some extent, Nagy will be able to draw on his experience with Mahomes. There are similarities between the two, as both quarterbacks are athletically gifted and comfortable when throwing on the run. Trubisky seemed especially at ease when rolling out of the pocket during his 12 starts.

The difference, however, is that Trubisky doesn't show nearly as much poise in the pocket. Being able to first survive and then thrive in the pocket is a critical skill that separates top-tier quarterbacks from those who are forgotten fast.

Trubisky's shakiness led to an equal number of touchdowns and interceptions (seven apiece), along with a per-attempt average of only 6.6 yards in his first year and a passer rating of 77.5. But he has the physical tools to adapt and develop, including a booming arm. His natural skill needs to be harnessed and refocused, which Nagy showed he could do with Smith in Kansas City.

Smith came into 2017 as a 33-year-old who had averaged over 7.4 yards per attempt in a season just once. He finished his 13th NFL year with a YPA of 8.0, and he did it while also averaging 269.5 passing yards per game, which shattered his previous career single-season high by 36 yards.

If an aging passer can be turned around in a short time, then there's a bright neon arrow pointing up for Trubisky as his work alongside Nagy begins.

There are many other areas of concern for the Bears. Topping that list is the need to get more reliable weapons in the passing game for Trubisky, and the fate of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio also has to be decided.

But the first step forward was a bounding stride in the right direction. The next hurdle for Nagy is making sure the marriage between soaring coach and struggling quarterback becomes a blissful one.

If he can do that, the Bears will go from striding to sprinting.