NEWSLETTER
When you look at Mitch Trubisky’s stat line from Sunday’s win over the Carolina Panthers, you might see one thing that’s unlike the others:
OK, so I made it a bit easier for you to figure it out, but that 101.8 QB rating should’ve jumped right off the page (screen?) – and for good reason.
With that mark, Trubisky became the first Chicago Bears quarterback to post a quarterback rating of 100 or better this season and first to do so since Jay Cutler on Halloween night in 2016. Seriously. It’s been that long.
That it took an underwhelming 4 of 7 day to get that 100+ rating says a little about the stat stat, itself, but also plenty on how poorly Bears quarterbacks have been in the recent past. And perhaps this a reflection on John Fox, too.
Trubisky’s four completions on Sunday made him the first non-injured starting quarterback to win a game with fewer than five completions since Tim Tebow did so back in 2011. That Fox-led team moved on to a young quarterback (Tebow) after a slow start and relied on a heavy dose of defensive excellence and relentless ground attacks to finish the season at .500.
Sound familiar?
Evidently, with Trubisky around, the Bears’ offensive game plan is to ensure that their rookie does just one thing: not eff up. Sunday’s matchup was a perfect example of this process in action (though he didn’t have too many opportunities to eff up anyway, because the defense spent more than 38 minutes on the field harassing Cam Newton).
Clearly, Fox and the Bears’ coaching staff has figured out what the team does well, and plans to ride it out until someone stops them. At the same time, they’ve taken a wild guess at what they do poorly and are staying as far away from it as possible. All things considered, it’s not the worse decision.
