Since his arrival at Halas Hall in January, Matt Nagy has made it known to his staff that he has an open-door policy. And through that office door, on the second floor perched above the Bears practice fields, the decor remains limited.
Naturally, there are the obligatory family photos _ one from the day Nagy was introduced as Bears coach and another from his honorary visit to Wrigley Field in April.
A University of Delaware helmet sits on the right side of Nagy's desk. Plus there is a 40th-birthday gift from his four kids displayed prominently on the bulletin board _ "40 reasons we love you."
Oh, and that? Over there on the west wall? That massive whiteboard that measures 10 feet high by 16 feet wide? That may be the most important thing in here.
That's Nagy's erasable canvas, an X's-and-O's spitball target that has become the Bears' hub of offensive ideas.
It looks like a playbook pinata exploded with red, blue, green and black lines zigging, zagging, intersecting, curving.
This, Nagy admits, was among his first requests when he became Bears coach. Thus general manager Ryan Pace wasted little time getting a work order processed, understanding the "Beautiful Mind" board represented three of the biggest qualities he quickly admired in Nagy.
His creativity. His collaborative spirit. His attention to detail.
"His mind," Pace says, "is always going."
Nagy lifted the "Beautiful Mind" concept from Andy Reid, whom he worked under for the previous 10 seasons with the Chiefs and Eagles. The name was a playful reference to the 2001 film in which Russell Crowe plays a mathematical genius whose world is seen through a prism of equations, formulas and new ideas.
From Reid and mentor Brad Childress, Nagy learned the value of soliciting outside input and blending ideas. He also admired Reid's never-ending quest to uncover new concepts, new plays, new wrinkles.
That's a major reason the whiteboard has to be as large as it is.
"It's so natural for coaches to come in, have an idea and draw it up," Nagy said. "But then the natural urge is to just erase it. No, no, no. Keep it up there. Now it's like a note board. Like sticky notes. You put it up. It stays up there. And eventually someone will come back to that and there it is. Boom."
An idea is triggered. A new discussion begins. The brainstorming process jumps up a level.
