It didn't take long for Matt Nagy to make a bold move in his first year as head coach of the Chicago Bears. On the eve of the team's Week 3 preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Nagy made the decision to sit almost all of his starters for ever-so-important "dress rehearsal" game.

The move drew some criticism from those outside of the team but Nagy wasn't backing down. On Saturday, he trotted out the second and third string players and then defended his move in the postgame press conference.

"Yeah, so, the biggest thing right now, so with where we're at, it's been a great, great, great training camp for us so far," Nagy said. "So, I think for us we have to understand that as coaches and players, we had the Hall of Fame game, and, yeah, the starters didn't play. I get that. But the starters have had a lot of reps in practice."

He then went on to talk about how the decision was made, with coaches monitoring practices throughout the week to see where they were. They ultimately came to a decision not to play the starters, feeling as if they were ready to head into the regular season.

"The players, one thing with our practices is you know, just kind of knowing where we're at practice schedule-wise and the amount of reps we get in practice, they're heavy," Nagy said. "There are a lot of times where our guys are flying around and giving everything they've got. So for us as coaches going into this week, we just felt like, and I felt in particular, that this is a position right here where let's talk about this and let's think here if we have a great week of practice, and it's fast, and it's fluid, and there's no mistakes, you know, then lets think strongly here about sitting some of the guys for this game."

The Bears went on to win the game and several backups earned some more reps this preseason. Meanwhile, the starters rested and won't see game action until the Sept. 9th opener at Green Bay. Nagy was confident in his decision to bench the starters and if the Bears get off to a good start, all will be forgotten.

As for the players, they all backed Nagy's decision which wasn't surprising. Outside linebacker Sam Acho, who didn't play on Saturday, praised Nagy by calling the head coach a smart guy for the move.

"Well, yeah, coach is a great leader and he’s also obviously really smart," Acho said. "We’ve been in we started two weeks early because we had a new coach in OTAs, and then we played in the fifth preseason game so really that was our fourth preseason game and so he’s an intelligent guy, he knows what he’s doing and we trust him and so he’s a leader and we’re just on the ship and we follow him."

Fellow linebacker Danny Trevathan took a similar route and mentioned Nagy's leadership for making the decision to sit the starters.

"He’s himself," Trevathan said. "He’s all about being you. He’s not just talking it, but he’s really about it. We really lean toward that guy and we’re looking to him for leadership. We appreciate the moves he’s making to make us a better team. It’s risky out there in preseason, so it’s all about being smart and getting your guys ready for the season."

Trevathan's comments signal that in this new era, Nagy has already gained the trust of many players including veterans in just his first year. With a positive vibe at Halas Hall, you can see why the Bears are backing their head coach in this decision.

While Nagy feels like the team is ready to go and are all on the same page, there's also the injury chance that factors into it. Losing a starter to an injury in the game wouldn't have been ideal and could have set the Bears back depending on the player. Last season in the third preseason game against the Tennessee Titans, wide receiver Cameron Meredith suffered a torn ACL and had to miss the entire year. It impacted the offense and Bears receivers struggled all year long.

Running back Tarik Cohen was in his rookie season when that happened, and he understands it from Nagy's point of view.

“It’s a smart decision, seeing that he doesn’t want us to get injured," Cohen said. "Big season for us. We’re optimistic about how this season is going to turn out, so we want everybody healthy.”

For a team that is coming off another last-place finish in the NFC North, it's understandable how the move could frustrate some of the fan base. But not having those game reps doesn't mean the team still isn't getting better from practice.

The offense should be right where it needs to be at this point of the year as they wouldn't have played against Buffalo anyways. Nagy is treating this week as one to prepare for Green Bay and safety Adrian Amos knows there's more reps coming as they install the game plan for the Packers.

"We’ve still got two more weeks to prepare. We’ve had a lot of reps in practice. It’s been a long camp," Amos said before Monday's practice. "We’ve been here since July 19, I think it was. We’ve got a lot of reps and we still have a lot more work to do over these next two weeks. It’s not two weeks of … we’re in there. We’re practicing. We’re running. We’re making sure we’re in shape. We had a lot of padded practices and things like that. We’ve just got to keep pushing and moving forward and paying attention to details and mentally and physically being prepared for next week. "

Whatever the feeling is about Nagy's decision outside of the building really doesn't matter too much for the team. Instead, they all bought in on the bold decision and are ready to roll for the games that do matter.

“He doesn’t care about what everybody else is going to think," Cohen said. "He’s just looking out for our best interests and the team’s best interest, and that’s the type of coach you want on your side.”

It's on to Green Bay.