Cole Kmet Day

Suddenly, the alarm sounds. It’s game day. Matt Nagy slowly rolls out of bed. The song playing on the clock radio sounds familiar. He pays it only momentary attention. Too important a day to get distracted by minutia. The hours fly past, locker room pep talks, sideline calls, celebrations when the defense does something great, complaints and frustration when the offense does something wrong. Before he knows it, it’s over, and he’s jogging into the bowels of the stadium.

The computer monitor flickers on, with a slight, nearly inaudible hum. A member of the Bears PR department adjusts the microphone, checks the vinyl navy backdrop, emblazoned with the orange wishbone C (and whatever corporate sponsor they have this week), and taps on a blue icon. Slowly, the screen starts filling up with small video blocks. Local reporters, all waiting to ask their post game questions.

Matt Nagy, head coach of the Chicago Bears, briskly enters the room. The air turbulence from his passing gently ruffles the vinyl backdrop. He takes his seat, hesitating for a moment, perhaps with a feeling a deja vu. He shakes it off, settles into his seat, and silently waits for the first reporter to be called on, as if they were students diligently waiting with hands raised in home-room.

The session begins, and the normal game day questions start rolling in. Questions of time-out usage and clock management. Questions about what was happening on a particular play. Questions of what he can do to improve his offense, which had struggled through yet another game. He offered the usual platitudes, mixed with some actual, if basic, explanations of NFL rules and strategy. Being careful to be personable, but not so insightful to give away anything his opponents could use against him.

As the next question rolled in, that feeling of deja vu returned. In truth, it had never really gone away, but instead was pushed to the back of Matt’s thoughts. More ignored than forgotten. The reporter’s voice comes through the small speakers, tinny and weak, likely being sent from a phone. He asks “Cole Kmet hasn’t been used much in the offense, is there any plan to use him more going forward?”.

Coach briefly looks down, unable to shake this feeling of deja vu that is now screaming in his head. The words leave his throat, almost before he could even think about it “Cole’s looked good out there. He’s made plays. He only played a handful of snaps today, so, we need to get him more involved moving forward. He’s earned it.”

The PR team moves on to the next question, and the answers continue to come, almost as if on auto pilot. Until finally, it’s done. “Thanks Coach” barks the PR rep. Matt picks up his drink, nods to the tiny camera hole on the monitor, and walks out of the room. As he watches tape that evening, everything just feels so, familiar. As if he can predict it happening before it does. He drives home, hoping to shake this feeling, but he can’t. “Lamp post, lamp post, man walking dog, silver Audi passes by...” he says in his head, just before seeing exactly that.

“It must be stress” he says to himself, before crawling into bed. “Maybe I just need a good night’s sleep”. He closes his eyes. Suddenly, the alarm sounds. It’s game day. Matt Nagy slowly rolls out of bed. The song playing on the clock radio sounds familiar. He pays it only momentary attention. Too important a day to get distracted by minutia. The hours fly past, locker room pep talks, sideline calls, celebrations when the defense does something great, complaints and frustration when the offense does something wrong. Before he knows it, it’s over, and he’s jogging into the bowels of the stadium.

The computer monitor flickers on, with a slight, nearly inaudible hum. A member of the Bears PR department adjusts the microphone, checks the vinyl navy backdrop, emblazoned with the orange wishbone C (and whatever corporate sponsor they have this week), and taps on a blue icon. Slowly, the screen starts filling up with small video blocks. Local reporters, all waiting to ask their post game questions…

WhiskeyRanger is a freelance graphic artist/content creator, an avid Bears fan, and apparently speaks in the third person. You can follow him on Twitter @WhiskeyRanger29, and check him out on Youtube at WhiskeyRanger.