Mitch Trubisky’s fourth-quarter heroics Sunday were exactly what Chicago Bears fans have wanted to see out of him consistently for three-plus years.
Take over a game. Make a series of big plays. Deliver the winning touchdown pass in the closing minutes with confidence, aggressiveness and precision.
That’s franchise quarterback stuff.
A comeback from 17 points down.
On the road.
With nary a sign of panic.
Was Sunday a potential landmark moment in Trubisky’s efforts to revive his career?
“It’s important to understand that, for all of us, these types of wins are the ones you remember,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “And they can really help you get the season going the right way.”
Trubisky finished his first Sunday of the 2020 season with a Club Dub celebration at Ford Field and a feeling of satisfaction. Bears 27, Lions 23.
Who in Chicago wouldn’t have signed up for that on Sunday morning?
This was a significant win on multiple levels.
But Trubisky also has matured enough to see the big picture clearly. This was only one game, he emphasized. In truth, it was only one good quarter that helped offset three quarters of shakiness and inconsistency.
That’s why Trubisky didn’t bite on the opportunity to proclaim that the redemption chapter of his career is now in progress with the pen in his hand.
“If you’re focused on writing the story while you’re going through it, then you can kind of distract yourself,” Trubisky said. “It’s better to just stay present and live in the moment.”
After winning a summer quarterback competition against Nick Foles, Trubisky said he felt like he had received “a fresh, clean slate.” But that’s not altogether true. If it were, there wouldn’t have been mid-afternoon calls for a change in the Bears huddle, the most notable coming from Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez on the Fox Sports halftime show.
If Trubisky truly had “a fresh, clean slate,” the city of Chicago would have spent a lot more time on its “Victory Monday” celebrating one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent memory rather than debating whether Sunday’s win was fool’s gold.
Has Trubisky really improved enough to help propel this Bears team back into the playoffs with a whole season full of clutch moments and winning performances? Or was Sunday afternoon just his latest tease, a flash of promise about to be smothered by weeks of inconsistency?
That trial is ongoing in Chicago, with most fans not about to selectively forget the last three seasons.
But at the very least, there’s a new mountain of evidence from the season-opening win to assess. That will help push everything forward.
Here’s our comprehensive Week 1 Bears QB rewind.
Defining moment
In the 1,316 regular-season passes Mitch Trubisky has thrown, it would be hard to find one more special or precise than his game-winning 27-yard touchdown to Anthony Miller. It was a shot play against man-to-man coverage. And Trubisky’s beautiful throw resulted in Miller’s fantastic catch and a 27-23 Bears lead with 1:54 remaining.
“I just looked off the safety, put it in a place where he could make the play, and he made a phenomenal catch,” Trubisky said.
Miller never has lacked confidence. Throughout Sunday’s game, he continued to badger Trubisky for more chances. And after the Lions lost starting cornerbacks Desmond Trufant and Justin Coleman to injuries, Miller saw greater opportunity to go after slot cornerback Tony McRae. Miller was certain he would win and kept telling Trubisky and Matt Nagy to set him up.
The play call on the game-winner wasn’t all that sophisticated. Miller ran an inside fade route and attacked it with purpose, using his speed to get past McRae.
For Trubisky, it was shotgun snap, short drop and let ‘er fly with an understanding that, in what the Bears call “The Big Red Zone,” the ball had to be delivered on a bit more of a line and on an angle Miller could take advantage of. What unfolded was absolutely gorgeous.
Great route. Great throw. Great catch.
Great moment.
Toward the end of last season, with the Bears offense unable to resolve its season-long struggles, Nagy repeatedly noted the need for Trubisky to make plays when there were plays to be made. In every one of the Bears’ eight losses, there were three or four missed Trubisky opportunities that could have swung the game.
In Trubisky’s best games of 2019 — versus the Dallas Cowboys, Washington and, of course, the Lions on Thanksgiving — he made big-time plays when they were there for him to make.
Sunday’s fourth quarter was another example of that, with Trubisky’s final throw changing the entire mood at Halas Hall heading into Week 2. That’s the NFL.
On the bright side
Mitch Trubisky’s second most special throw Sunday was a 16-yard completion to Jimmy Graham in the fourth quarter, an on-the-run dime that put Graham in position to score. Officials originally ruled it a 17-yard touchdown but brought the ball back to the 1 after a replay review showed Graham’s knee hit the ground before he lunged across the goal line.
“I can’t get tackled right there,” Graham said. “What am I doing?”
Still, don’t take anything away from Trubisky on how terrific that sequence was, as he showed what a multifaceted playmaker looks like.
Recognizing a zero blitz at the snap, Trubisky’s awareness and athleticism allowed him to evade an unblocked rusher, defensive end Julian Okwara. The agility to get outside Okwara with his eyes remaining down the field deserves praise.
Then, with Graham running with safety Will Harris on a shallow cross, Trubisky threw a fastball for a strike while on the move. Graham nearly turned it into his second touchdown of the game.
“That’s as good as it gets,” quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo said. “It’s impossible to get any better than that.”
We just talked about the need for quarterbacks to make plays when there are plays to be made. That’s a prerequisite to NFL success. The best quarterbacks also make plays when things break down, when a play is a little helter-skelter and athleticism and instincts must take over.
Add one tally in that column for Trubisky with that completion to Graham.
“I just kind of turned it into a little backyard recess play,” Trubisky said.
Often, that’s the NFL too.
Uh-oh
The Bears offense came into the season vowing greater commitment to the running game and promising better production than they got in 2019, when their running backs averaged just 3.6 yards per carry. Everything started out well on Sunday’s opening drive. David Montgomery plowed up the middle for 6 yards on the first snap. Tarik Cohen followed with a gain of 3.
And then?
On third-and-a-couple-feet from their 34, the Bears botched a hurry-up quarterback sneak. Mitch Trubisky rushed the offense to the line, took a quick snap from Cody Whitehair, then was way too tentative in attacking the B gap between Germain Ifedi and Bobby Massie. He needed to drive forward and pick up the first down with determination.
Instead, the Lions swallowed him whole. Ugly in every way.
It was a tone-setting malfunction, too, causing another Bears punt on an opening possession. (That happened 11 times in 16 games last year.)
From there, the Bears’ third-down woes only compounded. They were 0-for-6 on third downs in the first half and failed on their first third down of the third quarter. In addition to the botched QB sneak, the Bears couldn’t convert a trio of third-and-7s, a third-and-12, a third-and-9 or a third-and-5 before they finally moved the chains with a third-and-10 completion from Trubisky to Anthony Miller late in the third quarter.
Without question, the Bears must do a better job on first and second down to create more third-and-manageable situations. But Trubisky also must understand that quarterback greatness is defined on third down and in the red zone.
To that end, his second-quarter misfire on third down in the red zone to rookie Cole Kmet was a double whammy, a disjointed play that included some late indecision and an off-target throw. That left the Bears to settle for a 28-yard Cairo Santos field goal.
Trubisky seemed bothered by pressure from Romeo Okwara but still climbed the pocket and seemed ready to scramble when he pulled the trigger to Kmet.
Lions cornerback Justin Coleman suffered a game-ending hamstring injury on the play, which left Miller open late near the front right pylon. Trubisky also seemed to miss a route combination to the left side with Allen Robinson breaking in toward the post and Tarik Cohen sneaking out of the backfield underneath against safety Duron Harmon.
From the get-go, the play felt discombobulated. And that was true of too many of the Bears’ third-down opportunities.
The big quote
“It’s pretty special, man. The kid wants it. The kid believes. There was never a moment on that sideline where he wasn’t being completely positive about what we could and what we were going to do.” — Jimmy Graham on the significance of Mitch Trubisky’s comeback win
The big number: 28
Yards lost by the Bears on a Lions strip-sack of Mitch Trubisky in the fourth quarter.
Give left tackle Charles Leno Jr. a game ball. His fumble recovery with 9:12 remaining may have been the most underrated contribution to the win. Leno’s alertness and ability to recover Trubisky’s fumble sent the offense’s worst play of the day into the official game book as a 28-yard loss instead of a defeat-sealing turnover.
At the time, the Bears were down 10 and gasping for air. A Lions takeaway there would have produced terrific field position and a golden opportunity for Matthew Stafford and Co. to close things out. Instead, the Bears were “blessed” with fourth-and-41 and an opportunity to punt. The modest change of field position eventually led to Matt Prater’s missed 55-yard field goal that kept the comeback hopes alive.
Still, Trubisky has to watch that sequence over and over again to realize how his fundamentals broke down as the pocket collapsed. The interior of the offensive line was overpowered. Trubisky had no chance to make anything happen. But …
“We can’t make a bad play worse,” John DeFilippo said. “And we have to make sure we tuck the ball away.”
Several times throughout Sunday’s game, Trubisky got on the move without proper ball security. In that moment, it almost cost the Bears dearly.
Odds and ends
Mitch Trubisky’s first touchdown pass of the season and Jimmy Graham’s first TD catch as a Bear was family picnic stuff — competitive uncle against undersized nephew. Graham was alone to the right with a 6-inch, 50-pound advantage over Lions cornerback Tracy Walker. That’s as easy as it gets. Especially for a former All-Pro tight end — and college basketball player — who has plenty of experience boxing out and winning jump balls. Trubisky would’ve had to try really hard to screw up that one. “There’s no defense for the perfect ball,” passing game coordinator Dave Ragone said. “That ball took the defender out of the play because he put it to the outside with ball placement.”
Trubisky’s second TD toss, a 1-yarder to Javon Wims, had a higher degree of difficulty. The Bears got the defensive look they hoped for. Trubisky sprinted out to his left with Allen Robinson breaking out from the slot along the goal line and Wims slanting in and then curling back toward the back left corner of the end zone. Once outside cornerback Amani Oruwariye passed off Wims to nickel back Tony McRae, Trubisky had to put the ball in Wims’ neighborhood. Quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo noted that Trubisky missed on that play in practice last week, firing high to Robinson when the scout team safety broke and changed Trubisky’s throwing angle. It was a good lesson that Trubisky applied to the game with enough savvy to find Wims for the score.
Trubisky’s first two passes to Graham in the first half seemed to feature clunky timing. Graham seemed to mistime his leap on both balls, a bit out of sync and leaving a couple of solid gains on the field. Tight ends coach Clancy Barone chalked up both to first-game rust. “Those are things that typically get addressed during preseason games,” Barone said. “It was just the timing of things and the space and so forth with those types of routes. Game speed is way different than practice speed. So that’s more of an element of just having time on task and doing it live against other people full speed.” Overall, Trubisky was 3-for-9 for 25 yards and a touchdown on passes targeted for tight ends.
Matt Nagy wants to be aggressive. In every way. Thus he bypassed a 52-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter to go for it on fourth-and-7. That play failed when Trubisky badly missed receiver Ted Ginn on a dagger route. Ginn had Desmond Trufant beat too. There was potential for a gain of 17 to 20 yards with an accurate throw. Instead, Trubisky threw well behind Ginn. Trufant knocked it down. Turnover on downs. Nagy said Monday he thought the ball was tipped over the middle. But it wasn’t. Just a poor throw in a key situation.
We repeat: Matt Nagy wants to be aggressive. Thus with 1:05 left in the first half of a 6-6 game, Nagy wanted his offense to take advantage of what was essentially a bonus possession before halftime. The goal, Nagy said, was to avoid any major risk of a sack with short drops and quick decisions. But the whole sequence backfired badly. Trubisky had inaccurate second-down and third-down incompletions to Anthony Miller and Wims. And his completion on that possession — a 3-yard swing pass to Tarik Cohen on first down — will almost certainly be highlighted as a glaring error in the film room. To the opposite side of the play, Miller had badly beaten cornerback Darryl Roberts off the snap from the slot against a single-high safety look. With Roberts stumbling and Miller flying just outside the numbers to the right, the Bears had a home run waiting for them. Instead, Trubisky went to the checkdown. A three-and-out ensued. Only 25 seconds came off the clock. The Lions got the ball back on a short field and marched 48 yards for a momentum-shifting touchdown.
DeFilippo identified Trubisky’s “the one he’d like to have back” throw as a second-quarter deep shot to Robinson, who was singled up against Oruwariye. Robinson wasn’t wide open by any means and likely would have had to make a contested catch. But Trubisky didn’t set himself properly in the pocket to give it a chance. “To me, that just goes back to old-school fundamentals,” DeFilippo said. “We got caught flat-footed and a little bit wide with our feet. He’s going to make that throw next time he has it for sure.”
Up next
The Bears host the New York Giants on Sunday at Soldier Field. Under new coach Joe Judge and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, the Giants are trying to fix a defense that ranked 28th in the NFL last season in passing yards allowed (264.1 per game), 22nd in sacks (36) and tied for 25th in interceptions (10). Mitch Trubisky, however, struggled against the Giants last season in a 19-14 Bears win. He went 25-for-41 for 278 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and a 69.0 rating.
The Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-16 in their season opener Monday night, with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger going 21-for-32 for 229 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.