NEWSLETTER
Finally, it happened.
It took 14 games, but Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky put up his first game with two touchdown passes as a pro. Hey, it totally counts a major accomplishment when you’ve never done it before. And not only did it happen for Trubisky, the touchdown throws came at the most opportune times when the offense that needed points.
But did Trubisky show improvement from Week 1? Well, his head coach seems to think so:
Bears HC Matt Nagy on QB Mitch Trubisky's progress Week 2 from Week 1: "I thought his clock was good. I had no issues with either getting rid of the ball right away too early or hanging onto it. Timing was better. I think his eyes were better. He saw things pretty well."
— Rich Campbell (@Rich_Campbell) September 18, 2018
Trubisky’s first touchdown pass came on the offense’s first possession, capping a 96-yard touchdown drive with a creative shovel toss near the goal line to Trey Burton, which opened the scoring. Getting off to a hot start was imperative for a Bears team that stumbled to the finish line against the Packers in Week 1. That Trubisky was able to rebound and string together a lengthy scoring drive after being backed up near the shadow of his own team’s goal post says something about what kind of quarterback he can be once he puts it all together.
Still, there were a handful of ill-advised and overthrown balls, plus the underthrown pass that ultimately resulted in his first pick in the game. As you would expect with a young, learning quarterback, there were obvious hiccups.
As for Matt Nagy’s comments, in particular … Trubisky’s improved eyes were on full display with his second touchdown pass, a red zone strike to rookie receiver Anthony Miller. The throw from Trubisky was perfect and in a place where only his receiver could make a play on the ball. But the biggest takeaway might have been Trubisky’s ability to make that throw while rolling to his left. This is what it looks like when a quarterback keeps his eyes up while on the move:
RIP me pic.twitter.com/z8QzbsrZ0T
— Arif Hasan (@ArifHasanNFL) September 18, 2018
Now, let’s not overlook the game-management aspect of this scoring drive. This 11-play, 66-yard drive chewed up 6 minutes and 15 seconds of game time. That it came after a three-play drive for Seattle that went for negative-1 yards made it that much sweeter because it came at a great time for a defense that could have used a breather for carrying a heavy load in the first half.
Week 1 served as a reminder of how much work the offense needed to do in order to do its part to close out games, Trubisky needed to show he could sustain some late-game drives. He did that on two second-half drives that consisted of 18 plays and ate 10:18 worth of game clock. Progress can be a slow process and is rarely linear (as Cubs President Theo Epstein likes to say), but Trubisky made some in his performance last night, even if it was a bit uneven … at best.
