Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy, now NFL mavericks, shared a ‘servant mentality’ as Eagles assistants

LAKE FOREST, ILL. — Matt Nagy and his wife, Stacey, wanted to find someplace quiet to watch his friend, Doug Pederson, coach Super Bowl LII. Hired by the Bears just three weeks before, Nagy didn’t have many friends in the northern Chicago suburbs, so they looked for a quiet place. They settled on Chief’s Pub in downtown Lake Forest, a place so quiet that they had to ask the barkeep to turn the TV on.

Nagy followed the game with little emotion until, just before halftime, Pederson challenged Bill Belichick’s defense with the Philly Special — a fourth-and-goal reverse pass from the 1-yard line.

Nagy turned to Stacey and said, with admiration, “Holy hell. That was a [gutsy] call.” Then, louder, to the largely empty bar, he cried, “Yeah, Doug! Thataboy!”

Fast-forward to the Bears this season. Game 12, trailing by a touchdown with 3 seconds to play at the Giants' 1-yard line, Nagy calls a similar play. It works.

It’s easy to understand the camaraderie between Pederson, 50, and Nagy, 40. They’re like a big brother and little brother who have a shared upbringing: marginalized by professional football but wiser for it; late to the coaching cult but fully and humbly committed to it; willing to let players express themselves; and, now, NFL playoff foes.

“We have that ‘servant mentality,’” Pederson explained Wednesday. “We want to help our teams win, and serve the players and serve the coaches.”

Pederson used that unusual phrase — “servant mentality” — to describe the submissive mind-set he and Nagy shared as they climbed from low-level Eagles assistants to NFL head coaches over the past decade. No job was too menial.

“Willingness to do anything and everything. Breaking down tape. Running a report for the offensive coordinator, who was Marty Mornhinweg at the time. Or doing something for Juan Castillo, our offensive line coach,” Pederson said. “He had a willingness to serve. Matt and I parallel a lot.”

Their wives are good friends, said Nagy, but they also are allies who endured the years of instability and insecurity that accompany the existence of most coaches. Their families mirror each other; Pederson’s three sons are older than Nagy’s four, so Pederson offers parenting advice.

Pederson still marvels that, in 2010, Nagy abandoned his fledgling career in real estate and took a 50 percent pay cut to commute 99 miles a day at 3:30 a.m. from his home near Lancaster to be a coach’s assistant. Nagy got a promotion when he replaced Pederson as quality-control coach the next season, after Pederson became Andy Reid’s quarterbacks coach. Fired by the Eagles in 2012, Reid brought Pederson and Nagy with him to Kansas City as offensive coordinator and QB coach, respectively. Nagy took over as OC when Pederson became the Eagles' head coach in 2016. The Bears hired Nagy a year ago, and he will host his big brother in the wild-card playoff game Sunday evening.

They could hardly be closer.

In the offseason, they would run together at Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, across the street from the Eagles' practice facility. As they broke down tape late at night they would share soft-serve ice cream, Pederson’s obsession.

“Vanilla ice cream,” Nagy said, “with the rainbow sprinkles.”

They also like the run-pass option and two-point conversions, and they find trick plays irresistible.

Pederson ran a different version of the Philly Special in the Eagles' opener, against Atlanta.

Sunday, against the Vikings, Nagy used backup offensive lineman Bradley Sowell at fullback eight times: seven running plays and one pass play in which Sowell, 6-foot-7 and 312 pounds, released and ran a seam route. Nagy also called a successful two-point conversion play for backup linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, who caught a pass out of the backfield … after cornerback Prince Amukamara crossed the backfield in motion four times.

Pederson loved it.

“Keeps it fresh for your players. You never know who you might call on next,” Pederson said. “It’s pretty unique.”

For both of them, it is all about the players.

“They tell their players to let your personality show. They let the players do whatever they want to do,” said Bears tight end Trey Burton, who won the Super Bowl with Pederson last season. "They don’t have this strict hammer of, ‘You can’t do this, or you can’t do that.’ Obviously, there are rules and things like that, but allowing us to be loose and letting us do whatever it is we have to do to prepare to play — that’s what they let us do.”

“Nagy is a little more rah-rah than Doug is," said Chase Daniel, who has been a backup quarterback for both, "but they are very similar.”

Naturally, the coaches' friendship sparked a text-message string last week, since the Eagles needed the Bears to beat the Vikings in order to reach the playoffs.

Pederson said he texted Nagy: “‘Hey, man, I’d really appreciate some help going into this final week.’ He responded, ‘I’ll see what we can do.’”

Both teams won, but big brother would have been just as happy for Nagy had the Eagles lost.

“I texted him after the game coming back from Washington. I just wanted to tell him how proud I am of him and what he’s accomplished this season, and wished him the best moving forward,” Pederson said. "Then I asked him for a couple of good eating spots in Chicago when we come to town."

Nagy recommended Capriotti’s sandwich shop, or Gino’s East for deep-dish pizza.

He’s keeping Chief’s Pub to himself.

The Bears are incredibly healthy for this time of year. Pro Bowl safety Eddie Jackson, who missed the last two games with an ankle injury, did not practice Wednesday but is expected to return Sunday. He has six of the Bears' league-high 27 interceptions, two of which he returned for touchdowns. He also forced two fumbles and has returned one for a TD. … Kyle Long, younger brother of Eagles defensive end Chris Long and a Bears guard tasked with blocking Fletcher Cox, missed eight games with a foot ligament injury before returning and playing the first 29 snaps Sunday in Minnesota. He practiced fully Wednesday and is expected to play against the Eagles.

Get insights on the Eagles delivered straight to your inbox with Early Birds, beat writer Zach Berman’s newsletter for Eagles fans. Click here to sign up.