Behind Bears QB Nick Foles’ ‘unique deep ball’

If Mitch Trubisky’s deep ball is a Ricky Vaughn pitch — the “Wild Thing” never did know where the ball was going, though it got there quickly — then Nick Foles’ is an arcing-lob wedge shot designed to flutter into the arms of his receivers.

“I think it’s just more of a feel thing, just understanding the speed and the angle of the receivers and where they’re going to be,” Foles, the Bears’ new starting quarterback, said this week. “And just letting it rip.”

Foles did that — because he had to — in the Bears’ 16-point, fourth-quarter comeback win against the Falcons. He’ll be more judicious in how often he goes deep Sunday against the Colts at Soldier Field, but there’s no doubt he gives the Bears a new weapon.

Foles has a combination of arm strength, a feel for judging the speed of receivers and the angle of their routes and the size — he stands 6-6 — to see down the field.

Then there’s the attitude.

“Nick’s always had that aggressive mentality,” coach Matt Nagy said. “That’s never changed. We liked that. . . . When you have that accuracy on those deep balls, that always is a positive for the offense — and for those wide receivers and tight ends.”

Nagy has always equated passing with touch to shooting a basketball — and is quick to point out Foles’ hoops prowess. Foles has a “unique deep ball,” said Colts coach Frank Reich, his coordinator on the Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning team three years ago.

“A lot of guys that throw the deep ball today throw the ball a little flatter,” Reich said. “Nick throws the ball with a lot of arc.”

That gives receivers a chance to outjump defenders for the ball, be it Alshon Jeffery in Philadelphia or Allen Robinson this season.

Foles never threw deep better than he did during the Super Bowl run. From Week 15 through the second round of the playoffs, he threw one completion and one interception on 13 passes of 20 yards or more, according to Pro Football Focus. In the NFC title game and the Super Bowl combined, he went 8-for-12 for 274 yards, four touchdowns and one interception on such throws.

“If you’ve got confidence in your guys, they can make the play,” Reich said. “That’s what [Foles] is saying — he’s just assuming they’re going to make more plays than not. And he’s had a lot of success in his career doing that.”

The Bears have not. Last year, Trubisky completed 45.7% of his 46 passes of 20 yards or more — both figures ranked 17th in the league. Receivers had to bite their tongues, particularly during the middle of the season, when they got frustrated with Trubisky’s throws.

Earlier this week, receivers coach Mike Furrey was asked about back-shoulder throws, in which the quarterback sees the receiver and cornerback running even with each other and decides to throw it to the receiver’s back shoulder. Foles tried one such throw to Javon Wims in the fourth quarter last Sunday. It fell incomplete, but Furrey made it sound like a welcome change.

“Obviously, we haven’t had a lot of those the last two or three years,” Furrey said. “And so that’s going to happen now.”

Wims was thrilled to even see it attempted.

“I think one of the greatest things is when Nick threw it and [Wims] came off the sideline,” Furrey said. “[Wims] was like, ‘Hey, this is like college days again. If I’m not open, it’s going to be back shoulder.’

“That happens because we’re throwing the ball down the field.”

It’s a bad sign when Trubisky’s deep passing attack doesn’t compare favorably to the Georgia Bulldogs’.

Foles figures to be different.

“Just throwing the ball a lot throughout my life, I think that’s the big thing,” Foles said. “There’s nothing special about it. It’s a feel thing, and just letting the ball go and just having some fun doing it.”