The only person who wasn’t happy for Mitch Trubisky was Mitch Trubisky.
If you watched the suited, showered, and subdued Trubisky stand at the podium under Soldier Field on Thursday night, you would have never guessed he just kept the Bears’ playoff hopes alive by throwing for 241 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-24 win. Instead, the much-maligned quarterback navigated through the 12-minute press conference with the enthusiasm of someone reporting for jury duty.
“Nah, I don’t care about that,” Trubisky said, when asked if he’ll take a moment over the next 11 days to enjoy the win. “I’m just trying to get better every week. Continue to stay hungry and progress each week. We’ve gotten better over the last couple weeks – I’m talking as a team – and that’s what’s most important to me. That’s what allows you to play better as an individual - if you focus on the team first.”
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Aside from the hip debacle in Los Angeles, the quarterback’s infamously-unflappable demeanor hasn’t changed much throughout the few ups and many, many more downs of his third NFL season. What has changed, noticeably, has been his play on the field. Trubisky has ended the last two games with quarterback ratings over 100 and finished both with completion percentages over 70% – the first time he’s gotten over that benchmark since Week 3 against Washington, and only the third time all year. He’s now thrown six touchdowns in two games; Trubisky didn’t even have his sixth touchdown pass of the season until Week 10.
He was not without flaws on Thursday night, as another ill-advised red zone interception shot the Bears' first drive in the foot. But once again, it was his response – a six-play, 46 yard drive that resulted in the tying score – that had the Bears talking after Club Dub allowed the media in.
"He's the same guy whether he throws a pick or he doesnt," Charles Leno said. "He's the same guy from the beginning of the game to the end. That's what I love about him."
And while he wasn’t interested in spending time talking about his mini-renaissance, his teammates were more than happy to set the record straight.
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“He’s been a leader,” said Anthony Miller, who continued his strong second-half play with another touchdown catch of his own. “A lot of people have been doubting him, calling him this, that and the third. But we’ve been rocking with him in this locker room. We’ve always had confidence in him, coach has had confidence in him, and he’s just showing y’all we he can do. It’s no surprise to us.”
“We followed our leader Mitch…” added David Montgomery. “ … For me, it’s like a ‘ah-ha!’ moment. Because you see somebody work so hard day-in and day-out. But you’re finally able to see it. A lot of people kind of jumped ship on 10, but Coach Nagy always preaches about staying together as one, and Mitch steps up. I’m just happy for him and happy he’s our quarterback.”
A packed Soldier Field was even treated to some vintage (if you consider 2018 to be a long time ago, which the Bears players DEFINITELY do) Trubisky on Thursday night. At the start of the 4th quarter, in a two-score game, the Bears dialed up on option play on 1st and 10. Trubisky made the right read, tucked the ball and – after some fine blocking up front – shook Cowboys’ safety Xavier Woods out of his shoes on the way to a 23-yard score.
“The best part of that, for me, was how excited my teammates got afterwards.” Trubisky said. “Really cool moment. It was good.”
The Bears have fully adopted the no-one-believes-in-us mantra, but in the quarterback’s case, it’s true. Everyone on the Bears have stood behind him – perhaps at times to a fault – and now, or at least the next 11 days, that decision is starting to feel justifiable.
“I think one thing is for sure, everybody is seeing what type of people we have on this football team,” Nagy said. “No one has flinched. We've pulled together, become even tighter. We're winning football games now. We're playing as a team.”