Usually when a Chicago Bears quarterback makes NFL history, it’s for all the wrong reasons. Such has been the legacy of the position for this franchise dating back several decades. Even Mitch Trubisky seemed destined to head down that same road of disappointment and underachievement. However, things have swung in a different direction over the past two weeks. It started with a comeback victory in Detroit that saw the quarterback throw for 338 yards and three touchdowns.
Most critics chalked it up to him playing against a bad defense. Fair enough. That can happen. Most expected him to fall back to Earth on Thursday Night Football. It was primetime against a good team in the Dallas Cowboys that was coming in angry off a two-game losing streak. It felt like the sort of games Trubisky had bungled away in the past. On the first series of the game, it certainly looked headed that way as he threw a bad interception in the red zone.
Things changed after that and changed in a huge way. Trubisky ended up concluding arguably the best game of his career in a 31-24 Bears win that was never as close as the final score indicates. What’s even crazier is the final stat line: 244 passing yards, 63 rushing yards, 3 TD passes, 1 TD run. According to Stats By STATS, he is the first quarterback in NFL history to post something like that.
Mitch Trubisky might finally be turning the corner
It feels like the Bears quarterback has finally rediscovered the confidence he had last season. His throws were made with conviction and accuracy. He took off and ran the ball for chunk gains all night. Whenever he made a mistake, he forgot about it by the next play or next series. That is the way professional quarterbacks are expected to function. For him to do it under the lights in a must-win game with the defense not at its best? That was the sort of game the organization had been waiting for.
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Can he sustain it? This is the question everyone will be asking. The Bears certainly need it with the defense getting more and more banged up. Prince Amukamara was out with a hamstring and Roquan Smith might be done for the year after leaving with a pectoral issue. The offense hasn’t carried its weight most of the season and Trubisky has seen enough of that. It’s time for him to take center stage and he looks ready.
