With Thursday’s game in Detroit looming, the Bears don’t have time to watch much film of Sunday’s win against the Lions. We did, though, and found three takeaways:
The first interception
First, tight end Ben Braunecker dropped what should have been a 29-yard touchdown pass from Mitch Trubisky in the first quarter. Then Trubisky threw a brutal interception in the end zone.
It was a product of a miscommunication between the quarterback and receiver Allen Robinson.
Trubisky took the shotgun snap on third-and-9 from the Giants 14 with 1:49 left in the first quarter. He had Braunecker split left, three receivers right —Robinson in the slot, then Anthony Miller, then Javon Wims on the outside — and David Montgomery in the backfield.
Trubisky threw an interception to inside linebacker Alec Ogletree in the middle of the end zone. Ogletree dropped deep, the way Lovie Smith’s linebackers used to in his Tampa 2 coverage. The Bears expected Ogletree to be shaded to the inside of Robinson’s route. He kept outside leverage on Robinson, though, and the receiver bent his route inside.
Not that it excused Trubisky’s throw. In a scoreless tie, the Bears should have been kicking a 32-yard field goal, at worst.
“Miscommunication between me and A-Rob,” Trubisky said after the game. “I thought he was going to one thing, he was seeing something else out there and we fixed it ...
“Just one of those instances where you can’t force it. We had points in that situation, so I tried to give him a chance, but we just weren’t on the same page.”
The touchdown run
Trubisky ran for his first touchdown of the year when, on third-and-goal from the 2 in the third quarter, he took a shotgun snap and ran a sweep right between pulling guard Rashaad Coward and Montgomery, who kicked out safety Julian Love.
“I wanted that play called down there, especially when they were zoning us, showing us out down there, favorable run box,” Trubisky said. “David made a great block. O-line did a great job getting out. And when you get down there, you just got to finish strong.
“So, when your number is called, you’ve just got to do your job. Everyone else did theirs. So I felt like I needed to finish it off.”
Trubisky’s touchdown run marked only the second time all season the Bears called a planned quarterback run in the red zone. The other, an eight-yarder against the Eagles, moved the Bears to the 1-yard line.
“Mitch lowered his shoulder and got on in there, and that was a huge part of the game,” Nagy said.
The Bears try to be judicious with his runs.
In his career, Trubisky has run the ball 19 times — either as a scramble or planned run — in the red zone. He’s scored six times. Before Sunday, his most recent red-zone rushing touchdown came more than a year ago: on Nov. 11, 2018, against the Lions. He had three touchdown runs on red-zone runs last season.
By contrast, Bills quarterback Josh Allen — who is bigger than Trubisky but shares his rushing ability — has scored seven touchdowns on 16 carries from inside the red zone this season alone.
“We want to make sure that when we’re calling a play, especially with the quarterback running the football, that it’s something where you have a little bit of an advantage,” Nagy said. “Where it’s not just cramming it all the time right in between the tackles. That’s not always the smartest thing to do.”
Patterson’s coverage
Cordarrelle Patterson is more than just the Bears’ standout kick returner. He made two game-changing plays on punt coverage Sunday.
Midway through the second quarter, the Giants’ Jabrill Peppers picked up a bouncing punt and took off up the left sideline. The player closest to him, Sherrick McManis, collapsed to the ground after hurting his groin.
Peppers would have scored a touchdown had Patterson not fought his way back onto the field.
Patterson, who was split left as the “gunner” opposite McManis, ran the width of the field to cover a kick to the right. He was blocked by cornerbacks Sam Beal and Love and pushed five yards out of bounds, but hustled back from the double team and onto the field. Patterson tackled Peppers at the 29-yard line.
He saved his best for last, though — with 3:48 to play, punter Pat O’Donnell blasted a kick 61 yards that Patterson dove for at the 1 and batted back to the 6, where Deon Bush downed it.
“What he did [Sunday] on special teams was second to none,” Nagy said. “The way that field position flipped, for him to get down there and make those plays, watching him there on the Gunner, running downfield, making plays, and then he made that saving tackle there on the one punt return. I had a click of it: he jumped out of nowhere and made a saving tackle. I really appreciate that.
“That’s who he is. He takes a lot of pride in how he does that.”
