DON’T BELIEVE IN MIRACLES
TRUBISKY ISN’T RETURNING AS A PROBLEM-FREE qb, BUT MAYBE HE’LL DO MORE FOR BEARS THAN FOLES COULD
Let’s cut through all the nonsense about how the last two months of sitting on the bench and running the Bears’ scout team have made Mitch Trubisky a better quarterback.
He’s still the same player who has exasperated Bears fans and coaches most of his career, but right now he’s the best they have heading into Sunday’s game at Green Bay.
It doesn’t mean he’s going to turn them into a contender. It just means he’s better than Nick Foles.
Officially, this move is because Foles has been out all week with a hip injury, but his recent performances merited a benching anyway.
So Trubisky gets another chance, perhaps his last one, to win the job. As much as coach Matt Nagy kept steering the conversation back to Foles’ injury, he left it open-ended enough to indicate that Trubisky could reclaim the spot that was taken from him in the third game of the season.
“More than anything, what means the most to me is just having an opportunity to come back and be there for my guys when we just need to find a way to win,” Trubisky said “Being back in the role that I am, and being a leader on this team, it means a lot to me to have this opportunity to go into battle with my guys this weekend, so I’m looking forward to it.”
The last time thiswas Trubisky’s teamwas Week 3, when he’d just thrown an interception in the third quarter against the Falcons and the Bears were about to fall behind 26-10.
Even behind a mask, Nagy’s disgust was unmistakable. It wasn’t just that mindless pick — it was a third straight game of bad decisions, poor reads of coverage, off-target throws and very few points. There’s no reason to think any of that magically cleared up over the last two months.
At the time Nagy yanked him, Trubisky had completed 59% of his passes, averaged 186.7 yards per game, thrown for six touchdowns against three interceptions and managed an 87.4 passer rating.
Despite those numbers, along with nearlosses to the Lions and Giants and a huge deficit building against the Falcons, Trubisky was somehow surprised Nagy benched him.
“I was caught off guard,” he said. “I was just starting to build some momentum, and then it kind of felt like a blindside.”
Only to him. For everyone else, including Nagy, it was a long time coming.
“I said I went with my gut when that happened . . . [but] therewas obviously a lot more to it,” Nagy said. “It ended up being the right thing to do for that game.”
Nagy quickly named Foles his starter indefinitely — a no-brainer after Foles rallied the Bears from Trubisky’s 26-10 hole to a 3026 win. But since then, Foles hasn’t been an upgrade. And at a time when the offensive line has never been shakier, he’s as flat-footed as it gets.
While the idea that Trubisky has undergone a transformation since his benching is absurd, his attitude toward Nagy’s decision is telling. He got over the demotion and dedicated himself to his humble new job.
“The first couple days, it sucked being in that role, but I was trying to just continue to keep perspective and think long term,” Trubisky said. “I just changedmy mindset to embrace practice. I was doing my job on the scout team, just trying to give the defense a good look, taking a lot of pride in that.”
That’s why Chicago still roots for Trubisky and would revel in a resurgence, even knowing he’s gone after the season. For all his flaws, he does and says all the right things. People wanted him to get this chance. Now it’s here, and it could last well beyond Sunday.