ROCKY TRU: NAIL-BITER AT THE END
Another up-and-down effort, another victory
Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky is happy to be 2-0, of course. But the only time it showed after yet another herky-jerky performance in a 17-13 victory over the Giants on Sunday at Soldier Field was when he was asked about the most incredulous pass of the day — a four-yard ricochet to . . . offensive tackle Bobby Massie.
“That’s not how we drew it up,” Trubisky said. “They zoned us out on the fourth-and-[two]. I was just trying to get it in there to Jimmy [Graham]. They did a good job of knocking it down. Luckily it ended up in Bobby’s hands. His first career catch [and] in a huge situation.”
On fourth-and-two at the Giants’ 36 with 3:58 to play, Trubisky tried to squeeze a short pass to Graham. The ball was tipped by Giants linebacker Blake Martinez and popped into the air, but right to Massie, who cradled the gift like a player who had waited 6,778 NFL snaps to get it. He fell to the ground for an important first down.
Instead of getting the ball back with 3:42 to play, the Giants got it back with 2:02 to play after Cairo Santos missed a 50-yard field goal, and that made a difference as the Giants ran out of time on their last drive.
“We got lucky,” Trubisky said. “But sometimes when you’re playing hard, the ball bounces your way.”
That’s a fair assessment after Trubisky made the most of the Trubisky-est of performances against the Giants. He was superb in the first half with two touchdown passes to give the Bears a 17-0 lead. And he was shaky in the second half with two interceptions that turned a potential blowout into a nail-biter — though that downturn seemed to be as much an offense/Matt Nagy issue as a Trubisky issue.
But he’s 2-0. The Bears are 2-0. “I think it’s good because we’re a hungry team, and we know what we’re capable of to play four quarters,” said Trubisky, who completed 18 of 28 passes for 190 yards and a 78.0 passer rating. “And when you play really well in the first half and put up 17 points and then don’t get any points in the second half, that’s a little frustrating.
“We have a little higher expectation for what we’re trying to do on offense this year. But you have to be happy with the win. We battled through, and we’re proud of that, but we still have a ways to go.”
Trubisky’s performance was a reversal of last week’s victory over the Lions. Even in back-to-back victories, Trubisky’s inconsistency doesn’t seem survivable for a playoff contender. In his four best quarters this season, his passer rating is 138.6 (five touchdown passes, no interceptions). In his four worst quarters, it’s 30.0 (no touchdown passes, two interceptions).
Sunday left plenty of room for interpretation of Trubisky’s performance. His patience and moxie were outstanding in setting up both touchdowns — a lob that David Montgomery turned into a nifty 28-yard score for a 7-0 lead and a 15-yard pass to rookie Darnell Mooney in which Trubisky stepped up, then pulled back and fired across the field to give the Bears a 17-0 lead.
And the best pass of all was dropped by Anthony Miller in the end zone — on a tough but makeable play — in the first quarter.
At 2-0, Nagy had every right to accentuate the positive when asked about Trubisky’s chronic inconsistency.
“I gotta go back and see [on tape] what’s really going on,” Nagy said. “That one throw to Anthony Miller . . . he dropped an absolute dime on that throw. Anthony didn’t come down with it. That’s how the game goes. But that was a hell of a throw that Mitch made. That was a bigtime play.”