Bears coach Matt Nagy, QB Mitch Trubisky downplay ‘heated’ sideline exchange

Coach Matt Nagy generally takes a friendly tone with players, but there’s no telling what will come out of his mouth amid the intensity of a game.

ESPN zoomed in on a sideline confrontation between Nagy and quarterback Mitch Trubisky during its broadcast of the Bears’ 31-15 victory Monday night over the Redskins, and Nagy appeared to hit him with, “Shut the [expletive] up.”

Nagy didn’t clarify the transcript of that conversation but dismissed the notion of any discord between him and Trubisky.

“I have a little bit of a heated side to me at times, and I think there’s nothing wrong with that, but Mitch does, too,” Nagy said. “That’s probably not the first and last time that’s gone on between a head coach and a quarterback.

“Nothing’s personal. It’s just in the middle of the game, just us going at it, and you guys got a taste of it.”

ESPN broadcast

Given Trubisky’s demeanor, that heat probably doesn’t go both ways. Trubisky tends to be reserved and deferential, but he said Wednesday, “There’s nothing wrong with showing a little emotion.”

His exchange with Nagy, which also included quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone, took place during a timeout with 8:23 left in the second quarter.

Trubisky kept the drive going with a 15-yard pass to Anthony Miller on the ensuing third down — “See, he made a good play; he made me look good,” Nagy joked — and capped it with a touchdown pass to Taylor Gabriel.

After the play, Trubisky and Nagy embraced on the sideline.

“I’ll just say it as simple as this: Within 10 seconds, that thing was out the [window],” Nagy said. “That wasn’t even a discussion after the game.”

The Bears went ahead 14-0 on that touchdown pass and rolled to a 28-3 lead by halftime. Trubisky, who went 25-for-31, threw for 231 yards and three touchdowns and had one interception for his best game of the season.

Before beating the Redskins, he had no touchdown passes, an interception, a 58.3 completion percentage and a 65 passer rating.

Predictably, Trubisky was nothing but positive about Nagy snapping at him.

“I love it, I love it,” he said. “I got fired up. That’s what you want from your head coach. You want passion, and it wasn’t anything malicious.

“We were just communicating, and he definitely got his point across, and I love to see passion out of my head coach. . . . It’s really a non-issue. It’s not a big deal at all. I didn’t even notice it at the time.”

That’s what coaches and players usually say after these episodes, and they do seem to be common in the NFL. It’s just a matter of whether the cameras catch them.

Tom Brady and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels were filmed shouting at each other in 2017, a story that dominated the news cycle, and Nagy said he had numerous interactions like that with Alex Smith when both were with the Chiefs.

“It happens,” Nagy said. “There’s a difference, though, between it being personal and being task-related. There’s a big difference in that.

“We as coaches have that with each other at times, but it’s because we care. If we didn’t care, I would’ve never had that conversation with him. That’s not the first time, and I promise you it’s not gonna be the last time.”