Intrigue surrounds injury to Chicago QB Trubisky
The Chicago Bears have yet to fully reveal the extent of damage to quarterback Mitchell Trubisky’s left shoulder, or who will play the position against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday in London.
It may not matter, if they’re going to continue getting defensive play like they had against the Minnesota Vikings in a 16-6 victory.
The Bears remained vague Monday on Trubisky’s injury or whether Chase Daniel would have to replace their starter as he did following the injury early in Sunday’s game.
“We’re working through all of this,” coach Matt Nagy said. “If he plays, we’ll be ready. We’ll fire up, we’ll be ready. We’re not going to change much. And if he doesn’t, we’re fine. We’re going to roll with Chase and that’s where we’re at.”
Nagy laughed about an ESPN report saying Trubisky suffered a dislocated non-throwing shoulder.
“Man, somebody knows more than me, huh?” Nagy said. “I don’t know. We literally are going to wait for more here as we go and just see exactly where things are at.”
What Nagy does know is the defense seems to work regardless of who’s playing. Without starters Akiem Hicks, Roquan Smith and Bilal Nichols, they held NFL rushing leader Dalvin Cook to 35 yards and sacked quarterback Kirk Cousins six times, including two strip sacks.
“Our guys stepped up, we had some guys that really stepped up yesterday on that defensive line,” Nagy said. “You go back and turn on that tape and you see some guys flying around, and I want to give credit really to all of the assistant coaches over there, but (defensive line coach) Jay Rodgers did a really good job with getting his guys ready. And that’s what this is all about.” STEELERS BREAK OUT OF FUNK, CRUSH BENGALS >> Mason Rudolph threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns to pick up his first victory while filling in for Ben Roethlisberger as the Pittsburgh Steelers easily handled the Cincinnati Bengals 27-3.
Rudolph completed 24 of 28 passes, most of them quick hitters that allowed the Steelers to control the clock. He connected with James Conner on a delayed screen for a 21-yard touchdown in the second quarter, then broke the game open with a 43-yard heave to rookie Diontae Johnson midway through the third as the Steelers (1-3) won their ninth straight over the Bengals (0-4).
Jaylen Samuels ran for 26 yards and a touchdown, caught eight passes for 57 yards and was even credited with three completions — in reality “pop” passes to teammates in motion that traveled all of three feet — while working out of the Wildcat formation as Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner opened up his playbook to help the Steelers avoid just their second 0-4 start in 51 years.
Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor became the second first-year coach to drop his first four games with the Bengals. Sam Wyche started 0-5 in 1984 but helped his team rebound to an 8-8 finish. Taylor’s task of getting Cincinnati back to respectability will be far harder if he can’t figure out a way to protect quarterback Andy Dalton.
Dalton spent a significant portion of the night under heavy duress. The Steelers sacked him eight times, picked him off once and forced a second-quarter fumble that halted a second-quarter drive in Pittsburgh territory when the game was still in doubt. Dalton finished 21 of 37 for 171 yards. Tyler Boyd, elevated to the No. 1 receiver while A.J. Green recovers from ankle surgery, was held to three receptions for 33 yards on the same field where he starred in college at Pitt.
CLEVELAND HAS BECKHAM’S NECK TO PROTECT >> Browns coach Freddie Kitchens has Odell Beckham’s back. He’s more worried the NFL protecting the star’s neck.
Kitchens said that he wishes the league’s officials were more consistent calling penalties in the aftermath of Beckham being choked by Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey during Cleveland’s 40-25 win on Sunday.
Beckham got into a heated fight with Humphrey, who pinned the three-time Pro Bowler to the ground and had his hands around his throat before being pulled away.
Both players were assessed personal fouls, but neither was ejected. Kitchens felt Humphrey should have been thrown out, but Shawn Hochuli said the actions didn’t rise to the level of a “disqualifying foul.”
“Here’s my big deal with that: I just want to have consistency on how we’re going to deal with things, OK?” Kitchens said during a conference call. “I don’t like seeing our player on the field and someone’s hands around his throat. I don’t like that. I don’t think that needs to be in our game and I would be the first to say that if it was our guy doing it.
“And I want everybody held to the same standard. That’s all I want.” SAINTS MARCHING WITHOUT BREES >> The Saints are 2-0 without future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees. That alone made Sunday night’s 12-10 victory against Dallas beautiful for coach Sean Payton despite some ugly offensive moments.
“It’s just about the feeling of winning,” Payton said.
Two weeks after a thumb injury sidelined Brees for an estimated six games, New Orleans (3-1) has moved up rather than down in the standings, leading the NFC South while relying heavily on special teams and defense.
The Saints returned a fumble and a punt for touchdowns at Seattle.