Matt Nagy once said he wasn’t brought here to run the I-formation. He said that in the context of his job being to help Mitch Trubisky become the best quarterback he could possibly be. In reality, he knew what his actual job was. To win football games with the Chicago Bears. As time went on, it became clearer and clearer that this task was being made more difficult with Trubisky under center.
Nagy tried to make it work. He revamped the offensive staff in the offseason. He changed the entire focus of the scheme from shotgun and pass-first to under center and run-first. The head coach did his job. He afforded Trubisky every chance to prove he could be the guy. After 34 minutes of game action in Atlanta, he’d finally seen enough. Nagy took a breath and went to Nick Foles.
What people may not know is it almost happened sooner than that. Albert Breer of the MMQB revealed the details.
In fact, he told me the first time the topic was really broached was at halftime, when some of the issues the team had early in the opener against Detroit started to resurface—the Bears, again, were having trouble on third down and in the red zone, and in managing down-and-distance. The offensive coaches discussed it, but didn’t raise it to the quarterback.
At that point, they figured they should wait. Then, the Falcons went 75 yards in seven plays to push the lead to 23-10, Blidi Wreh-Wilson picked Trubisky off on a shallow cross on a third-and-8, and the Falcons tacked on another field goal as a result.
At that point, Nagy looked over and gave Lazor a look, then simply said to DeFilippo over the headset: “We’re going to put Nick in.”
Nobody can ever say Matt Nagy didn’t give Trubisky a chance
That is the reaction of a head coach who is as player-friendly as it gets. Would Bill Belichick have afforded Trubisky as many opportunities as he got? Probably not. After 2019, there was enough evidence on tape for the Bears to justify moving on. Instead, they brought in Foles as competition. Trubisky did enough to keep the starting job. Unfortunately, that last chance was wasted with two underwhelming wins and the ugly first half in Atlanta.
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When he threw that interception to Blidi Wreh-Wilson after Cordarrelle Patterson set the team up with a big kickoff return? That was the final straw. Nagy sensed it was time to make a change. Foles came in, knocked off the rust, and delivered an epic comeback to get Chicago to 3-0. Just like that, the Trubisky era was over. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.
As a person, the decision was hard. However, making tough decisions is why Nagy is the head coach.