Mitch Trubisky threw an interception against the Patriots that didn’t bother coach Matt Nagy whatsoever.
On third-and-10 from the Patriots’ 41 late in the third quarter, Trubisky was flushed from the pocket but had nowhere to run. After being gashed by Trubisky’s scrambles in the first half, the Patriots had linebacker Kyle Van Noy spy him, and he forced Trubisky to the sideline. As Trubisky approached the line of scrimmage, he fired a low throw at receiver Josh Bellamy, hitting him in the right arm. But defensive back J.C. Jackson amazingly intercepted it.
“As a matter of fact that was a great play by Mitch,” Nagy said. “He made a hell of a play on that. I had to rewind it about five times to see how [Jackson] made that catch, but that ball was spot on, right on No. 15.”
It’s an interception that factored into Trubisky’s 69.8 passer rating in the Bears’ loss. It was his worst rating this season. But if Trubisky was “bad” against the Patriots then that’s good. He has raised the proverbial bar for what constitutes “bad” quarterback play for the Bears.
With every throw by Trubisky being analyzed, then overanalyzed, it has been forgotten how bad that bad was from the Bears’ quarterbacks in the past. Perspective is needed when reacting to Trubisky’s failures, which should be expected by all with him in his second season and first with Nagy.
In 2009, which was Jay Cutler’s first season with the Bears and fourth overall, he had passer ratings of 43.2, 33.6 and 7.9 — that’s right, not a misprint, 7.9 — in losses against the Packers, 49ers and Ravens, respectively. He threw a combined 12 interceptions in those games.
In 2010 and under center for a team that eventually reached the NFC Championship, Cutler competed 12 of 26 passes for 152 yards and two interception for a season-worst 32.9 passer rating in a 36-7 loss against the Patriots at Soldier Field.
In 2012, which was coach Lovie Smith’s final season with the Bears despite finishing with a 10-6 record, Cutler completed 11 of 27 passes with four interceptions and a 28.2 passer rating in a Week 2 loss in Green Bay.
There are more examples from Cutler’s tenure, too. Meanwhile, there is no reason to run through the pitfalls of Rex Grossman, Craig Krenzel, Chad Hutchinson, Cade McNown and others. In his final start for the Bears last season, Mike Glennon had four turnovers and a 67.5 passer rating in the Packers’ 35-14 rout in Week 4.
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Meanwhile, Trubisky’s “bad” was still good enough to produce 31 points against coach Bill Belichick’s defense in a game that never got away despite allowing two touchdowns on special teams.
Trubisky rallied the Bears to within seven points with four minutes remaining, but the defense didn’t deliver the stand needed for a real opportunity for a comeback, not a last-second Hail Mary.
Has Trubisky missed throws this season? Of course, he has. He missed rookie receiver Anthony Miller on three potential touchdowns against the Patriots. It included short-arming a throw that was intercepted. But Trubisky is supposed to be a mixed bag at this point in his development under Nagy.
The Bears would be alarmed if his missed throws were never attempted in the first place. He wouldn’t be merely missing throws but failing to identify open receivers and developing plays.
Trubisky said he played too much “backyard football” against the Patriots. His focus is on the details of the Bears’ plays, but that wasn’t a message from Nagy. It’s Trubisky focusing on improving.
“We’ve got to be even more detailed this week in our routes, in our blocking, with my eyes and my footwork,” Trubisky said. “We’ve got to continue to take steps. We did some good things [against the Patriots], but it’s not the standard of the detail that we need within this offense to really be exceptional and put numbers up.”
