TRUBISKY’S TROUBLES
Another thing pushing coach Matt Nagy out of his comfort zone is Mitch Trubisky. The Bears have been ultra-cautious in what they ask Trubisky to do, but even that has been dicey.
Trubisky ranks 36th of 40 in air yards per completion among quarterbacks who have thrown at least 60 passes. His average completion has traveled 4.3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, and that went up from 3.9 heading into the game against the Chargers.
Trubisky completed 8 of 8 passes behind the line of scrimmage and went 3-for-5 on throws of five yards or fewer past the line. He was a respectable 7-for-10 on passes 10 yards or deeper but made two devastating mistakes in that range.
Early in the fourth quarter, with the Bears having a chance to take a two-score lead, Trubisky badly misread the coverage and threw an interception.
He had Trey Burton, Allen Robinson and Anthony Miller on the right side, and, as the play unfolded, it appeared to him Miller was taking Chargers cornerback Casey Hayward with him deep up the middle.
That would have left Burton open for a 23-yard catch on the sideline, but Hayward stuck to Burton and trusted safety Rayshawn Jenkins to pick up Miller, which he did. Trubisky didn’t anticipate it and served up an easy pick to Hayward.
‘‘So when [the defender] falls off on that ... that’s one where [you] dump it down,’’ Nagy said. “It’s 16-10, you dump it down, and we live to see another down.’’
Trubisky’s other deep-ball miscue squandered a perfectly schemed and executed play midway through the fourth. He missed on a throw every NFL quarterback should make.
Everything clicked to get Taylor Gabriel matched up against Chargers linebacker Thomas Davis Sr., and Gabriel blew him away. It would have been a 58-yard touchdown — probably the ‘‘dagger’’ in the game, Nagy said — had Trubisky not sailed it over him.
‘‘He truly missed that one,’’ Nagy said. ‘‘He knew it right away. We all knew it.’’