When Matt Nagy watched film of Mitch Trubisky’s most unsettling game with the Bears, the head coach looked at the quarterback’s feet and eyes.
“The biggest, the No. 1 thing that I came away from was footwork,” Nagy said Monday. “I thought footwork was just OK.”
For a coach that’s always defensive of Trubisky, a public chiding, albeit gentle, is notable.
“And then when the footwork leads to, it leads to a little bit of better decisions-slash-accuracy with throws,” Nagy said. “There were some times where there were some backpedals or movement in the pocket could have been a little bet better. Or different.”
Trubisky dropped his eyes, too, rather than looking downfield.
“We want the eyes to be up,” Nagy said. “And then progression-wise we want it to be 100 percent every time we call a play. Our eyes — my eyes, [quarterbacks coach Dave] Ragone, [offensive coordinator Mark] Helfrich — all of our eyes are going to where his eyes are going. And that’s where I think we can keep getting that a little bit better.”
Here are three pass plays where Trubisky absolutely must be better:
Making the throw
Facing third-and-6 six minutes into the game, receiver Taylor Gabriel, who was split left, ran a corner route that left him wide open in front of cornerback Eli Apple. Trubisky overthrew him.
“He’s hit that all week — and missed that,” Nagy said. “That was the start. And then there was a few other ones.”
Trubisky converted that play all week in practice. The games are proving different — and that’s a disturbing trend.
Trubisky — any starter in the league — simply must make that throw.
“That was one of my favorite third downs all this week,” Trubisky said after the game. “Ripped it all week in practice, and it just didn’t translate to the game. I don’t know why. I’m going to go back and watch it because that’s one of my favorite throws, and I hit that every single time this week in practice, so why it didn’t translate to the game is really frustrating for me.
“And I felt like that’s an easy throw that I make easily, and I just wasn’t on the same page and didn’t put it in the spot to give my guy a chance. So that falls on me.”
Making the decision
A minute-and-a-half into the second quarter, the Bears had first-and-10 at the Saints’ 24. Trubisky lined up in a shotgun with, after a shift, David Montgomery, to his right.
The Bears called a run-pass option, and Trubisky kept the ball rather than hand it to Montgomery up the middle. Star defensive end Cam Jordan, lined up over the right tackle, bluffed toward Montgomery. With no one standing between him and the quarterback, Jordan took a dead run at Trubisky and sacked him for an eight-yard loss.
Receivers Anthony Miller and Gabriel were open for short gains in the slots.
Nagy called it one of Trubisky’s biggest mistakes of the day.
“That’s a learning tool for him,” Nagy said. “Hey, we call a run-pass option. We were just a little bit off in our progression on that play and we ended up losing the eight yards, now [it’s] second-and-18, now you’re back to third-and-14. And now we have an incomplete pass and we’ve got to grind to make three points in that area.”
Being on same page as WRs
On third-and-2 with about six minutes left in the first half, the Bears took a timeout because of a glitch with Nagy’s headset. The Bears came out in an empty formation against man coverage.
Miller lined up in the right slot and ran a seam pattern up the right hash. Miller then released inside of defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson. Trubisky, thinking Miller would release outside the right hash instead, threw the ball there for an incompletion.
“If you watch the play before, Anthony beat him pretty clean on the outside release,” Nagy said. “So the kid’s a smart player, the DB, so he protected his outside. So the next play now, Anthony goes inside on a different concept, similar route. And Mitch had some pressure in his face.
“So when you have all that, for us, remember now, we get to sit here and watch it on TV. You’re not down there in between the trenches and you’ve got stuff in your face. That part is... But he missed it. He missed it. But at the same time, there was other elements of that, too, that affected it.”
What adjustment is Trubisky supposed to make?
“To hit some of them as well, throughout the year,” Nagy said.
