It's Possible Mitchell Trubisky's Comeback Will Be Cut Short
It wasn't the resounding return to the field Mitchell Trubisky evisioned.
So he can't even be sure there will be an encore performance Sunday at Soldier Feld against Detroit.
"I don't know, I don't know, that's not my call," Trubisky said after the Bears were smashed by Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay 41-25. "I just try to, like I said, put my best foot forward every single day and the chips will lay where they are."
The chips sat on three turnovers, one a lost fumble he didn't deserve because he'd been facemasked and the Packers turned into a Preston Smith touchdown return. The positive couldn't even be trusted since his three touchdown passes and majority of his 242 yards on 26 for 46 were achieved after the Bears fell behind 27-3.
"Yeah, I feel like we were moving the ball down the field and we had some more things open up but that can be, who knows, when you are playing from behind all game and they're playing a certain type of defense not to let up big plays and giving us stuff underneath," Trubisky said. "For me, it's just continuing to come in and lead the guys the way I know how and just stay healthy. That's a big thing with this season and with the pandemic going on, you're just trying to stay healthy and anything can happen any week and I think we saw that around the league, whether it's an injury or whether guys are getting sick with the virus you just want to be available for your team and try to go out there and play these games and make the most of it."
At least Trubisky could say he came out of it without further damage to his right shoulder.
"It was good. It was good," he said. "It's just nice to be back out there and hit again and the shoulder feels good, the shoulder feels strong. I just have to keep getting stronger each and every week and it takes a lot."
Trubisky didn't look like a new version of himself, as coach Matt Nagy had described. His two interceptions to Darnell Savage were both forced into tight coverage, lobbed up in the air over the middle of the field where they became easy prey.
The lost fumble he didn't deserve because Za'Darius Smith facemasked him before making the strip of the ball, then another Packer facemasked him a second later just after the ball came loose.
The first interception in the end zone proved on a throw to Darnell Mooney devastating because it was early in the game and the Bears needed to come back with a score to match the Packers.
"The shot into the end zone, Mooney got bumped a little bit—not pass interference but he got bumped—and the safety made a good play over the top," coach Matt Nagy sad. "It was a shot that we took. They made a good play on defense. Sometimes that's what happens in this game.
"I don't think that it affected the next play per se, but those type of deals right there when you're playing a really good offense like we are, the turnovers, you just can't have those."
Nagy took the side door out on the issue of the quarterback, saying he had to study Trubisky's reads and decision making.
"I thought early on, I really, his eyes were going where my eyes were going, which is good, he's going to where you want to go, and then the game kind of before you know, after we were down 17 and then before you know it you're down more, and now it becomes a one-dimensional game and they know you're throwing," Nagy said.
It could be Nick Foles is back from a glute injury and they just hand him the job for what will no doubt be the next Armageddon style game for the Bears, another win or it's over. They trail the Cardinals still by a game in the wild-card hunt, although the division race now appears all but over with the Packers winning.
For Trubisky, there's much riding on it because next season he's a free agent.
"It's been a crazy year in general so you just gotta keep riding the wave of life and just make every day count," Trubisky said. "When we get to next year, we get to next year but we still gotta go to work this week and get ready for the next game so that's what I am trying to do for the next opportunity and everytime you go out and play you try to put your best foot forward for whoever is watching and I know that stuff will take care of itself. It's a process."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
