GREEN BAY, Wis. — Mitch Trubisky finished what was effectively the Bears’ season-ending loss to the Green Bay Packers with his second-highest passing yards total of the season (334). Now here's the obligatory caveat: He reached that total on 53 passes, good for a meager 6.3 yards per attempt.
That point has been central to the popular laments of Trubisky and the Bears' offense. When things tighten up and the pocket constricts — as happened early and often against a boisterous Packers pass rush on Sunday — Trubisky is often prone to shoddy footwork, erratic backfoot throws and general checkdownery.
Those themes pervaded Sunday’s game. Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark, specifically, feasted, notching two sacks on the afternoon and seemingly disrupting every rush the Bears attempted between the tackles. Trubisky completed 29 of his 53 passes, good for a 54.7 completion percentage.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
“I felt like they were pretty good,” Trubisky said. “They had a really good front.”
The protection around Trubisky was inconsistent all day, but on plays when he found success, he operated with room to move, a clean line-of-sight and space to step up into. According to Trubisky, the confluence of those factors is not coincidence.
“I felt like our O-line played really well. I thought we could’ve taken more pressure off them moving in the pocket a little more and me getting out,” Trubisky said after the game. “We’ve got to continue to find ways to take pressure off our O-line. With a good rush like that, continue to mix it up, whether it’s with screens, running it, draws — all that kind of stuff helps.
“Could’ve done a lot of stuff, yeah,” Trubisky added, when asked if he thought the team could have done more to help the offensive line.
NFL
In Matt Nagy's postgame presser, the head coach credited the Packers’ defense for making things difficult.
“There’s some things they did. We know what some of that is, and that’s just week-to-week how that goes,” Nagy said. “We’ve got to find out how to communicate that. Not every week is going to be like last week running the football. That’s just how it goes.”
Juxtaposing those sentiments seems to illustrate a disconnect between quarterback and coach, which would explain the stilted, hot-and-cold nature of the Bears’ 2019 offense. As the team now turns the page toward the final chapter of a largely forgettable season, the interplay between Trubisky and Nagy is worth monitoring — even without potential postseason contention to fixate on.
After all, regardless of your thoughts on either, the most likely scenario for the Bears’ 2020 season involves this same duo again dictating the team's fate. As for today, though, the feeling of wanting more stings.
But it wasn’t an entirely discouraging outing for Trubisky. Embedded in a 13-point team performance that fell woefully short of keeping the Bears’ season alive were the flashes we’ve come to expect from him — flashes that make you wonder if, in the right situations, Trubisky could be capable of helming a potent NFL offense.
One sequence stands out in this respect: Late in the second quarter, with the Bears trailing 7-0, Trubisky sold a play-action fake and grooved a 33-yard pass to Anthony Miller in stride, taking the Bears down to the Packers’ 28-yard line. The team rushed to the line, then Trubisky ran a timely RPO keeper, on which a fake to David Montgomery opened enough space for Trubisky to scramble for nine yards and into the red zone.
To that point in the game, the Bears had not run the ball effectively (after the first quarter, Montgomery and Tarik Cohen had combined for -2 yards on five rush attempts). But they’d done enough establishing the run to open up some inventive actions for Trubisky, actions that allowed him to utilize his most valuable asset: his feet.
Two of Trubisky’s other most dazzling throws of the day — one an across-the-body sling to Riley Ridley to convert a 3rd-and-5 early in the second quarter, and a play-action rope down the sideline to Allen Robinson in the third — both featured a moving pocket.
It’s no secret he and the Bears' offense are at their best and most unpredictable when he’s free and loose. If the Bears are to avoid another unfulfilling season in 2020, the QB and his coach need to find ways to make that happen more often.
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of the Bears.