ORLANDO, Fla. _ As Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy boarded the Cessna 680 in Kansas City, Mo., in the late afternoon of Jan. 8, it was only natural for them to sit together. There was enough room on the twin-engine jet for the newly partnered football men to talk business on one side while their wives and Nagy's three boys relaxed on the other.
For Nagy, the flight to Wheeling, Ill., was 62 minutes of relative calm. On the ground behind him was life as the Chiefs offensive coordinator. Ahead were new challenges and responsibilities for the 16th head coach in Bears history.
Nagy and Pace had generated momentum during their interview and dinner the previous day, and Nagy's zeal powered them forward in midair. After all the big-picture topics he had discussed with the general manager _ philosophies, scheme, staff _ Nagy was ready for details.
"It was funny," Pace recalled. "Literally, the very first personnel conversation we had centered around the tight end."
Specifically, the "U" tight end, as Nagy calls it. Pace knew it as the "F." Different labels for the same role: the pass-catching tight end who usually lines up in the slot but can play from various spots. The position is extremely important to Nagy's system because of the mismatches it can create against linebackers and safeties. The new coach needed his boss to know that.
The interrogation began. Which tight ends were under contract? Who would be available in free agency in March? In the draft in April?
Pace had a free agent for him: Trey Burton.
Burton's magic Super Bowl moment was unscripted at the time, still a month away. But by then the nimble reserve had five touchdown catches for the Eagles, who run a similar offense coached by Nagy's former colleague Doug Pederson.
The fit was obvious. And with that, just 15 hours into Nagy's tenure as Bears coach, their free-agency plan had an A section.
That quickly, Pace had a dividend from his investment in Nagy to help strengthen the Bears identity as an offense-driven team. That conversation about the U tight end, and other similar ones since their plane landed, are exactly why Pace sought a new coach with good communication skills, an innovative mind and a hands-on approach to installing the offense and calling plays.
"It just gives you so much more confidence as an evaluator because you know when you add a guy, there's a vision and a role for him that he's going to be put into for him to succeed, instead of trying to stick a square peg in a round hole," Pace said.
"Around the league, you can see, even from afar, when a personnel department and a coaching department is connected on the vision for the player and when they're not. I feel like we're very connected on the vision for the players that we're adding."
That confidence has strengthened over the last 12 weeks, leading to players' return to Halas Hall on Tuesday. While NFL rules have prohibited the new coaches from working with players, Nagy and Pace have used the time to collaborate on their vision and seize their opportunity to reshape the team's identity and makeup.
"Ryan will come to me and ask: 'What are we? Who are we?'" Nagy explained. "He's not telling me: 'We're this. We're that.' He's asking me. When he starts asking those questions, I'm able to say, 'Hey, listen, this will help.' "
