The “incremental improvement” the Bears want from quarterback Mitch Trubisky is now being measured in millimeters.
Matt Nagy’s current defense of Trubisky is that he has definitively “gotten a lot better” the last two weeks and if he truly believes that, he’s looking at this through a stronger microscope than everyone else.
Or he’s using different criteria altogether.
If the baseline is the Eagles game, when Trubisky steered the offense to the franchise’s worst first half in the modern era, then, sure, he’s been better in the two games since.
“I’m going to go back to what I really like — and what I’m sticking to and what I believe in — is the last two weeks, he’s growing in the right direction,” Nagy said. “So that’s where we’re at and ... we want to put a good week together, get him healthy and hopefully get him out there this weekend to do it again.”
Trubisky appears to be reasonably recovered from a hip pointer and practiced in full again Thursday, which is quite a turnaround after ailing so badly that Nagy pulled him against Rams. All signs point toward him starting against the Giants on Sunday.
Does that excite anyone?
The key phrase in Nagy’s argument that Trubisky has made progress is “that’s where we’re at.” Here’s where they’re at with the quarterback they traded up to draft No. 2 overall:
Of 33 qualifying quarterbacks, he’s dead last in yards per attempt (5.6) and per game (175.6), 26th in passer rating (82.2), 23rd in completion percentage (62.4) and only Mason Rudolph averages fewer actual yards beyond the line of scrimmage on his completions (4.7). Other than cutting back on interceptions, all of his numbers are down significantly from last season.
When those are the broad strokes, any uptick looks really good. That’s definitely not “where we’re at” in Kansas City and Houston with the other first-round quarterbacks from his draft class. The bar is higher for Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.
Nagy’s narrative is that it’s a collective failure by the offense and Trubisky’s progress can’t be defined by statistics. Both points are valid as he deals with inconsistency from the receivers and offensive line.
The two games that encouraged Nagy were a 20-13 win over the Lions and a 17-7 loss to the Rams. If we’re going to split hairs in search of improvement, it’s also fair to nitpick.
Against the Lions, who ranked 31st in defense, he caught fire on three touchdown drives in a row. The Bears punted on their other nine possessions, including seven three-and-outs, and Trubisky completed 6 of 11 passes for 41 yards.
His line against the Rams was 24 of 43 for 190 yards (4.4 per attempt), a touchdown and an interception. He lost about 43 yards on five drops, one of which was intercepted. Those catches would’ve helped, but they wouldn’t magically turn his game into a masterpiece.
The combined 89.4 passer rating against the Lions and Rams was up from Trubisky’s 80 over his first seven games, but it takes optimism and a fine-toothed comb to find meaningful advances.
“We’ve all put in a lot of time and energy and hard work to get where we’re at, [but] we’re not where we want to be,” Nagy said. “But I’ll say this: The last two weeks... he has without a doubt gotten a lot better at the quarterback position. Decision-making, throws — where he’s at the last two weeks has been a lot better.”
The Bears are back to baby steps at the most important position on the field. Nagy might be correct that there’s been development, but the defense’s window won’t be open forever, and if progress keeps coming at this painstakingly slow rate, the Bears will run out of time.
Everyone else is already out of patience.
