Bears QB Mitch Trubisky is making the trip to London, but it will be backup QB Chase Daniel that gets the start against the Oakland Raiders.
Trubisky suffered a dislocated left shoulder, which won’t require surgery, on the first series last Sunday against the Vikings. But it will force Trubisky to miss Week 5’s match-up against the Raiders.
Matt Nagy said that Trubisky is “unlikely” to play Sunday and that he’s considered “day-to-day.”
The Bears are optimistic that Trubisky will return as soon as Week 7 for a home game vs. the Saints.
“We have the bye coming up here so we’ll be able to see really how this goes for him,” Nagy said, via the Chicago Tribune. “It’s crazy sometimes how things go with these byes and where they come and all that. We’re in a good position right now knowing that Chase [Daniel] came in last week and we’ve been in this before so we’re fully confident in that.”
Daniel, who will make his fifth career start Sunday, filled in for Trubisky last season for two games when he dealt with, ironically, a right shoulder injury. Daniel went 1-1, including a Thanksgiving win over the Lions and a heartbreaking loss to the Giants.
“He sees things well, in general,” offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said about Daniel. “He has a tendency, if anything, to overthink things. It was almost — not in any way a good thing, don’t take this the wrong way — but there was no time for him to think about anything. He had to just go. It was immediately, ‘Go to the bullpen. You’re in. Pitch.’ That was good for his mentality. He sees things. The timing of this offense, he’s been in for a long time. That helps.”
The Bears need the Chase Daniel that played against the Vikings last week and the Lions last Thanksgiving, not the Chase Daniel that played against the Giants.
Luckily for Daniel, he has a defense that can win games. All he needs to do is pretty much what he did against the Vikings, and let the defense handle the rest.
