Written by: John Stocco
Twitter: @realJohnStocco
I’m man enough to admit, I was wrong. No, not my prediction about Mitch Trubisky being in the MVP discussion. I was wrong about the starters not playing in the preseason. When it comes to injuries, I completely understand why you don’t want to play your starters in preseason, but when your offense is as complicated as Matt Nagy’s, with inexperienced players like Mitch Trubisky, David Montgomery, Adam Shaheen, and Tarik Cohen, you must give them reps to build chemistry and confidence on the field against real action. Last night, everything was terrible besides Eddy Pineiro and the defense.
That was honestly one of the worst coaching performances I’ve ever seen. Seriously, I never felt this bad about a coaching performance since Marc Trestman. The love for Matt Nagy is still there, but if you’re Matt Nagy or Bears fans, you have to look in the mirror and realize that the game plan was an absolute joke. Tarik Cohen was non-existent in the running game. David Montgomery disappeared. Using Cordarrelle Patterson on 3rd-and-1 when the entire world knows Green Bay is going to stack the box. Going for it on 4th down when you desperately need points while Eddy Pineiro who has the leg to kick a 58-yard field goal is standing on the sidelines. Nothing was working, and the worst thing about it was it seemed like Nagy refused to make any adjustments. When players are competing in real, meaningful football for the first time this season, it’s probably not the best idea to get cute. Instead of that, Nagy got cute and tried to outsmart the other sideline. In the end, the only person he outsmarted was himself.
Mitch Trubisky. This is going to be tough. It looked like Trubisky took 100 steps backwards last night, at times looking like a deer in headlights. The moment was too big for him and he failed his team. Trubisky didn’t scan the field at all, didn’t make the right reads, couldn’t make adjustments at the line of scrimmage, was too quick to put his head down and run with the football, and he had zero confidence in any of his throws. Honestly, Allen Robinson could have had over 200 receiving yards last night. The penalties didn’t help (1st-and-40?!), the poor offensive line play was the last thing Trubisky needed, but when it’s all said and done, he couldn’t find a way to put the Bears in a spot to score with the game on the line. In short, Trubisky failed.
People all over the football world will overreact. Around this time last year, I was feeling the same way. I was devastated after Week One, and the Bears ended up finishing 12-4 and clinched the NFC North. If you want to quit, then there’s the door. Good or bad, I signed up for 16 games, and there are 15 games left. It’s time to pick up the pieces, go back to the drawing board, improve, and head out to Denver. We’re from Chicago. We’re Chicago sports fans. Nothing in life as a Chicago sports fan ever comes easy. This is par for the course.