WHAT GAME WAS NAGY WATCHING? LEADING OFF
Coach’s defense of Trubisky’s performance vs. Patriots doesn’t square with reality
Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s protection was excellent Sunday. Coach Matt Nagy picked up all passrushing questioners after his team’s 38-31 loss to the Patriots.
‘‘There’s a lot of things that you guys won’t see on tape that I will see, and he was really good,’’ Nagy said of Trubisky. ‘‘He had a really good game mentally. He made good decisions. There’s a couple of passes that he made where he was the first to come off [the field] and say, ‘Shoot, I shouldn’t have made that throw.’ That, I like.’’
Mitch was ‘‘really good’’? I just want to make sure we’re talking about the same guy: Mitch Trubisky, right? Not Mitch McConnell. Not Mitch Kupchak. Mitch Trubisky.
The Mitch who threw two interceptions.
The Mitch who almost threw two other interceptions in the end zone.
The Mitch who too often had trouble completing passes to open receivers.
The Mitch who looked confused at times by the different looks Patriots coach Bill Belichick gave him at Soldier Field.
That Mitch?
‘‘When you throw the ball 50 times, there are going to be some that are inaccurate,’’ Nagy said. ‘‘This is this kid’s second year in the NFL. This is his first year in our offense. Not everything is going to be dead-on. So he had a good game.’’
Trubisky isn’t the reason the Bears lost a game they could have won. They gave up two specialteams touchdowns — on a 95-yard kickoff return and a blocked punt. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes, none to all-everything tight end Rob Gronkowski, who didn’t play because of injury.
But nothing about Trubisky’s 69.8 passer rating and 52 percent completion rate says he played well, and he doesn’t need Nagy