The Bears drastically reduced inside linebacker Danny Trevathan’s playing time Sunday, one week after he appeared a step slow and almost gave up the game-winning touchdown.
Trevathan played 90 percent of the Bears’ snaps in Week 1, replaced by safety Deon Bush in what defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano was careful to point out was a predetermined passing-down package.
Sunday against the Giants, though, Trevathan played less than half the Bears’ snaps – 48 percent. Bush played 38 percent of the defensive downs.
That usage is unusual for Trevathan — and concerning to a team that just gave him a three-year, $21.75 million deal in March. In the eight games that he started and finished last year, he played 100 percent of the snaps six times, and never less than 84 percent.
In Week 2 last year, at altitude in Denver, he, impressively, played all 82 snaps.
“I think with Danny, package-wise, where we were at yesterday, and as we go here, our coaches are doing a pretty good job of getting different guys in at different times,” coach Matt Nagy said Monday. “Based off of situations, where you’re at in the game.”
Trevathan hasn’t appeared on the injury report this season. Friday, he said that “I feel like myself” but “didn’t play the way I wanted to” against the Lions.
Nagy referred to carving out the proper snap count for Trevathan and receiver Anthony Miller, who played 40 percent of the offensive snaps, as a “juggling act” based on personnel preferences. And he didn’t apologize for it.
“Which is OK,” he said. “But we’ve got to be good with that.”
