Can the Bears get Mitchell Trubisky going again? He’s got a nice cast around him, but he’s been pretty iffy for the last half season. Looks like he could be holding back that offense.
Trubisky looked very good in the first half season of the Matt Nagy Administration. In his first nine games last year, he averaged 256 passing yards, with 19 TDs versus 7 interceptions. Toss in an average of 36 rushing yards, with an additional 3 touchdowns, and those are top-10 numbers for fantasy purposes.
| TRUBISKY: FIRST NINE STARTS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Result | Pass | TDP | Int | Run | TDR |
| at GB | L 23-24 | 171 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 1 |
| Sea. | W 24-17 | 200 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 0 |
| at Ar. | W 16-14 | 220 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| T.B. | W 48-10 | 354 | 6 | 0 | 53 | 0 |
| at Mia. | L 28-31 | 316 | 3 | 1 | 47 | 0 |
| N.E. | L 31-38 | 333 | 2 | 2 | 81 | 1 |
| NYJ | W 24-10 | 220 | 2 | 0 | 51 | 0 |
| at Buf. | W 41-9 | 135 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Det. | W 34-22 | 355 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 1 |
All of the other pieces of this offense look fine. Nagy and his group are good coaches, who know how to map out plays that will work. They’ve got plenty of pass-catching weapons, a good line, and the running game is fine. Plug an average, functional quarterback onto this roster and they would be the strong favorite to win the NFC North.
But Trubisky has tailed off. Defenses seemingly have gotten a better feel for how to defend him, and he’s been unable to up his game. Too often he’s missing on opportunities to make pivotal plays – either not seeing open receivers, or missing on throws.
In his last seven starts (including the playoff loss against the Eagles) Trubisky has averaged only 207 passing yards, with 6 TDs and 6 interceptions. And he hasn’t been able to make as many plays as a runner, with fewer than half as many rushing yards (and with no touchdowns).
| TRUBISKY: LAST SEVEN STARTS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Result | Pass | TDP | Int | Run | TDR |
| Min. | W 25-20 | 165 | 1 | 2 | 43 | 0 |
| LAR | W 15-6 | 110 | 1 | 3 | 23 | 0 |
| G.B. | W 24-17 | 235 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| at S.F. | W 14-9 | 246 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| at Min. | W 24-10 | 163 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| Phil. | L 15-16 | 303 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| G.B. | L 3-10 | 228 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0 |
Maybe they can get him turned around at least some, but the season opener wasn’t encouraging, with too many missed opportunities. He threw the loss-clinching interception late, and he had another horrible throw earlier that should have been picked.
Trubisky on Sunday is at Denver, playing against what I think will be an above-average pass defense. The Broncos are coached by Vic Fangio, who’s familiar with T-Biscuit from their time together in Chicago.
I am not optimistic.
—Ian Allan