Getty Mitchell Trubisky Bears
On the strength of a smothering defense, solid running game and despite the poor play of 2nd-year QB Mitchell Trubisky, the Chicago Bears handed the Los Angeles Rams–one of the best teams in the NFL–a 15-6 loss on Sunday night at Soldier Field in Chicago. The win improved the Bears’ record to 9-4. After the Minnesota Vikings lost to the Seattle Seahawks 21-7 on Monday Night Football, Chicago can clinch the NFC North with a home win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday or a Vikings’ loss at home against the Miami Dolphins.
***THE POLL IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE***
Needless to say, with the Bears’ current position in the standings and their most recent performance, the team is riding high, but there are still some concerns.
The defense held one of the most high-powered offenses in the league to just six points and it picked off Rams’ QB Jared Goff four times. Truthfully, had Trubisky played well, the score could have been much more lopsided. Trubisky overthrew as many passes as he threw accurately. He finished the game a modest 16-for-30 for 110 yards with one TD and three inexplicable interceptions. The first pick was drastically overthrown. The second was underthrown and the third one was airmailed as well. Each time, the defense picked him up by either minimizing the damage or taking the ball away themselves to erase their young quarterback’s error.
Had the Bears lost this game, the conversation on Monday would have been a lot different at a number of water coolers in downtown Chicago. To Trubisky’s credit, he did a good job keeping plays alive and making things happen with his legs on the initial drive.
He ran for 23 yards and also did an outstanding job hiding the ball on play-action and run-pass-option calls. That said, the Bears are going to need Trubisky to do a lot more than scramble and run RPOs. He has to be able to make defenses pay when they commit to stopping the run or spying him with a linebacker. On Sunday night, he couldn’t do that. In his defense, this was his first game back after missing the last two weeks with a bad shoulder.
It was also pretty cold at Soldier Field on Sunday night so he might have been rusty and a little stiff. That said, the errant throws are nothing new for Trubisky. He has struggled with his accuracy all season long. In fact, if you take out the six-TD performance in Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he’d have only 15 TD passes to 12 INTs.
Also, he’s already had three games this season with more picks than TDs and two more when he’s thrown as many interceptions as scores. There is no question, the Bears will need him to be better in the postseason if they are to have any chance of advancing deep into the playoffs or obtaining their ultimate goal.
Do you believe he’s capable? Do you believe Trubisky can be the QB that leads the Bears to a Super Bowl LIII victory? Vote in the poll below: