Jeff Dickerson, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Bears' Matt Nagy impressed by Mitchell Trubisky's grasp of offense

With the Bears' voluntary offseason program already in full swing, new head coach Matt Nagy roamed the hallway outside of the Halas Hall meeting rooms on Friday where assistant coaches could be overheard teaching players the nuances of the offensive scheme Nagy intends to install in Chicago.

“It was music to my ears,” Nagy said later in the day on ESPN’s NFL Live. “It was exciting to hear what was going on.”

Nagy paid particularly close attention to the events unfolding in the quarterback room. Quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone -- a holdover from John Fox's coaching staff -- was in the middle of quizzing players about the details of the new offense when Nagy entered the room.

“They were going over different parts of 'shallow cross' and the staples of this offense,” Nagy said. “There they are writing it up on the whiteboard and he’s just listening to them talk it back to him. It just doesn’t get any better than that.”

Added Nagy: “[Mitchell Trubisky] was on it. It was impressive."

No player in Chicago holds more significance than Trubisky -- the second overall pick of the 2017 NFL draft. Part of the reason the Bears hired Nagy away from Kansas City is because they believe the 39-year-old first-time NFL head coach is the right person to unlock Trubisky’s potential.

Nagy spent the past five seasons in Kansas City around quarterback Alex Smith, whom the Chiefs traded to Washington in the offseason. Smith, the No. 1 pick of the 2005 NFL draft, developed into an effective quarterback by the end of his seven-year run in San Francisco, but he experienced another level of success in Kansas City.

Working out of Andy Reid’s offense -- virtually the same system Nagy recently brought to Chicago -- Smith was named to three Pro Bowls and finished the 2017 regular season with 4,042 passing yards, 26 touchdowns and five interceptions.

“[Alex and Mitchell are both] driven,” Nagy said. “They are completely driven and competitive. Hate to lose. Want to win more than anybody. They don’t just talk about it; they show it by their actions.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what Mitchell does and I’m really going to use everything I learned from Alex [Smith] to help him out."

The early reviews are positive.

Trubisky said during an interview on NFL Network on Friday morning that Nagy’s scheme accentuates his strengths as a quarterback.

"I really feel I was built for this offense," Trubisky said. "And it's just dynamic, it's creative, and it's also balanced. And that's what you want. We're going to get the ball out quick. We're going to deceive the defenses, and we're going to spread the field, and we're going to get [the ball] all over to our playmakers. We're going to be balanced. We're going to play fast. We're going to be dynamic. And we're going to stretch the field every which way. I just feel like this offense is going to utilize my talents more and the players we have around me. And hopefully, we can just get it rolling from there. So I'm excited to keep diving in and keep working."

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