Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy was in Cabo San Lucas when former Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was traded to the Los Angeles Rams. Why does that matter at all? Because that’s where Stafford, Rams head coach Sean McVay and other NFL coaches who were interested in Stafford’s services at the time, including San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, were at the time the trade went down.
NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported in late January that the Bears were interested in trading for Stafford, saying they offered a first-round pick and more to the Lions in exchange for the veteran QB. The Bears weren’t the only ones interested — Shanahan admitted the Niners were.
“You don’t want to get me started. It was frustrating,” Shanahan said in July when he was asked about the Stafford trade, per USA TODAY. “I was in Cabo, I was watching it all. I remember looking through it because everybody was telling me it was a possibility and Stafford’s the man.”
As it turns out, quite a few coaches were all in Cabo at the time, including Nagy.
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Nagy Admitted He Was in Cabo, Says it Was ‘Coincidence’
When asked if he remembered where he was when the Rams landed Stafford via trade, Nagy answered in the affirmative.
“Yeah, I was um, yeah I do remember where I was at. It was ironically in Cabo, so, I was in Cabo, yeah,” the Bears coach said on September 9 with a smile spread wide across his face.
Was it a coincidence? “I think it might have been a coincidence,” Nagy said, noting he didn’t have dinner with any other players or coaches there. “I went to dinner with my wife,” he said with a chuckle.
Did he see Stafford? “No. Well, you asked me where I was, right?”
The Bears coach concluded by saying he had a grand time on vacation in Mexico. “It was great. It was really good. There weren’t many people there either, I know that.”
While there’s no definitive proof Nagy was there to try to woo Stafford, the Bears were already linked to nearly every veteran quarterback under the sun, including Stafford, Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson, and that would be one heck of a coincidence — if that’s really what it was.
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Nagy Gave McVay Huge Shout Out Heading Into Week 1 Matchup
The Bears will see Stafford, McVay and the Rams Week 1 on Sunday night in the fourth consecutive prime time matchup between the two teams. McVay is 2-1 against Nagy in those games, and the Bears coach gave credit where credit is due:
I think he’s a really good teacher. You see the this players really like him. And so when you have a guy that’s a good teacher that has good schemes and players like him, you’re gonna have success. What he’s done here heading into his fifth year as a head coach, he’s kind of carved a path for a lot of younger guys, myself included, in having opportunities. So I think for him any time you take your team to the Super Bowl and you have the amount of respect that coaches around the league give you and peers and people give you, there’s a reason for that. I got a lot of respect for him. I think he’s a helluva coach.
McVay is indeed an impressive offensive mind — which was a likely draw for Stafford when he made his final decision.
You can watch Nagy’s full interview below:
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New Evidence Emerges Linking Bears to Matthew Stafford Trade