Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky looks like a quick healer.
He left the game Sunday night against the Rams with a hip pointer, putting his status for this Sunday’s game against the Giants in doubt. He was in such discomfort on the sideline against the Rams that he couldn’t sit on the bench and was uncomfortable on the plane home.
But Wednesday was a different story. Trubisky had full participation in practice — he did not show any signs of the injury in the drill period open to the media — and appears on target to start against the Giants.
“[The hip feels] a lot better,” Trubisky said before practice. “Day and night almost.”
Trubisky officially was taking a cautious approach but sounded optimistic he would play.
“I’m going to do as much as I can and as much as they allow me to do — day by day,” Trubisky said. “They have a plan in place to where we’re not overdoing it. I feel confident that whatever they give me, I’m going to keep taking it, feeling good, keep going and communicating and monitoring it and just make sure there’s no setbacks. . . . If it keeps improving by Sunday, I don’t see any problems.”
Trubisky’s sudden departure in the fourth quarter against the Rams ignited speculation that he had been benched in favor of backup Chase Daniel. But Nagy reiterated his belief in Trubisky on Wednesday.
But he seemed to indicate the need to see Trubisky on the field was as much an evaluation issue as a developmental one, heading toward the end of a season of regression for Trubisky and the offense.
“We need to see where he’s at,” Nagy said when asked if it would be better to shut down Trubisky and let him get a head start on starting fresh in 2020, “where our offense is at and continue to just keep rolling. We want him to be at practice. We want him to be out there this week as the starter. I’m hoping that’s the case.”
It’s a bit of a tricky call for Nagy. As much as Trubisky has struggled when healthy, it wouldn’t be prudent to play him if he’s hurt or not at full capacity. And there’s always the risk of reinjury.
“It’s such a fine balance of being injured [or] being hurt — and then becoming more injured and more hurt,” Nagy said. “That’s where I got to at the end of the [Rams] game. That’s the decision we made [to pull Trubisky].
“We’re now kind of at that point with him. We want him out there to be our starter and to be playing. So how do we get him to that point? We’re going to do everything we can so he is the starter.”
Trubisky has been here before. When he suffered a shoulder injury on the sixth play from scrimmage against the Vikings on Sept. 29, he didn’t return until Oct. 20 against the Saints. Now he could be attempting to return without missing a game, which likely carries a greater risk of aggravating the injury.
“If I feel good, I’m going to go,” Trubisky said. “But that’s one of the things you always have to be aware of, that hits and anything or a weird movement could definitely aggravate it. [You] always put that into the equation and just go out there. And if I can go, you’ve got to make a decision.”
It’s a tough spot for Nagy. Quarterbacks get hurt in the NFL. Drew Brees and Patrick Mahomes have missed games this season. But with Trubisky regressing this year, his return comes with a greater degree of unknown: Even if he’s healthy, he still has to prove he’s good.