LANDOVER, Md. — Mitch Trubisky found his groove Monday night. And there was a secret to his success.
Simplicity.
Biding his time, taking what the defense gave him and not trying to overdo it, Trubisky parlayed incremental momentum into a second-quarter flurry — three touchdown passes to wide receiver Taylor Gabriel in the final seven minutes of the first half — that carried the day in a 31-15 victory over the Washington Redskins at FedExField.
After disappointing performances in their first two games that left Trubisky 31st in the NFL in passer rating, the Bears’ offense was expected to turn it up against a Redskins defense that had allowed 32 and 31 points in its first two games. And Trubisky delivered.
He completed 25 of 31 passes for 231 yards, three touchdowns and one interception for a 116.5 passer rating. His touchdown passes of three yards, one yard and 36 yards to Gabriel in the second quarter gave the Bears a 28-0 lead. That’s an avalanche for a team that had scored one touchdown in the first two games.
“Sometimes when you’re stalling on offense and not having success like the first two weeks, you just kind of change it up a little bit and do something different to throw off the defense,” Trubisky said.
“I think we just kept it a little more simple for our guys. Instead of a lot of formations and personnel, kind of cut it down and played simple football. Blocked them up front, which our O-line did a great job and let our playmakers make plays on the outside.”
The game started to turn midway through the second quarter, when the Bears’ deepest penetration hit a snag. They faced a third-and-two from the Redskins’ 23-yard line. But Trubisky found Anthony Miller wide open on a crossing route and Miller gained 15 yards for a first-and-goal at the 8-yard line.
After Cordarrelle Patterson gained five yards, Trubisky rolled to his right and seemed to have a path to the end zone on the ground, but found an even better option — Gabriel wide open in the end zone. An easy toss gave Trubisky a three-yard touchdown that gave the Bears a 14-0 lead.
“It was a great man-beater down there,” Trubisky said. “We slid the protection and [Gabriel] basically had a dropping D-end covering him. I was going to run it in. But I wanted to throw it to him and get him a touchdown pass.”
After Khalil Mack forced a fumble with a strip-sack, Trubisky threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Gabriel for a 21-0 lead with 5:42 left in the half.
After Kyle Fuller’s interception, Trubisky hit Gabriel for 13 yards on a third-and-eight from the Bears’ 39. Six plays later, on third-and-17 from the Redskins’ 36, Trubisky threw a deep pass to Gabriel, who made a leaping catch at the pylon in the front corner of the end zone.
The play was ruled incomplete, as it did not appear that Gabriel had both feet in bounds. But after further review, the call was overturned and Trubisky had a 36-yard touchdown that gave the Bears a 28-0 lead with 43 seconds left in the half.
“It was big for our offense, just to get it going,” Trubisky said. “The defense did a great job of creating turnovers and getting us the ball. I think we were just better in situational football.
“Scoring before the half is always big. We were better on third down [6-for-8 in the first half, 8-for-13 for the game]. Just belief and executing on offense is what allowed us to score. We’ve just got to keep growing, keep getting better. If everyone continues to stick together, execute the play and believe, it’ll be a fun offense.”
