Don’t worry, Matt Nagy will not be the new Detroit Lions offensive coordinator

Rumors tying former Bears head coach Matt Nagy to the Lions offensive coordinator post gained some traction, but it isn’t going to happen.

When the Detroit Lions last saw Matt Nagy, there were rampant rumors he was going to be fired by the Chicago Bears if they went home with a loss on Thanksgiving Day. It came close to happening, as the Bears won on a last-play field goal. Nagy survived to the end of the season before being fired.

This week, Vito Chirco of SI.com authored a….let’s say interesting piece outlining the pros and cons of Nagy as the next Lions’ offensive coordinator. Even purely speculative as it is, it definitely seems to have started something.

On “The Colin Cowherd Podcast”, former NFL head coach Dave Wannstedt incorrectly said/”reported” Nagy had been hired by the Lions.

Friday morning, Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire got reaction to the growing Nagy rumors right from a proverbial “horse’s mouth”–a Lions employee.

Matt Nagy will not be the new Lions offensive coordinator

Lions head coach Dan Campbell planned to start interviews to find a new offensive coordinator this week down at the Senior Bowl. Tight ends coach Ben Johnson is getting an audition for the job in Mobile this week, serving as offensive coordinator for the American team the Lions’ coaching staff is at the helm of. Reviews of his work have been good.

Johnson is the easy favorite to replace Anthony Lynn, who lasted just one season as offensive coordinator and had play calling taken away from him by Campbell after the bye week.

Campbell should be open to multiple offensive coordinator candidates beyond Johnson. The bad experience with Lynn, a former head coach who Campbell openly said he never meshed with, shouldn’t turn him away from former head coaches if there’s a possible fit.

But Nagy and Campbell don’t seem to mesh at all on offensive philosophy. As the Bears’ offensive play caller Nagy often seemed allergic to the ground game, presumably in an effort to look innovative and smart–when he had Mitch Trubisky, Nick Foles, Andy Dalton or a rookie Justin Fields under center.

Campbell clearly favors running the ball, with hints of imagination overall, which will matter in the coordinator search. Nagy didn’t show many signs of either of those things in Chicago. He’s simply not a fit, and he has surely never been on the radar to get an interview to be Detroit’s offensive coordinator. But the short-lived speculation was kinda fun.