Last week on Thanksgiving Day, Mitch Trubisky engineered his best drive of the 2019 season, and also one of the finest of his career, leading the Chicago Bears to a comeback win over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. The win improved them to 6-6 and injected some life into their previously moribund season.
With a murderer’s row of opponents waiting to close out the final month, the Bears absolutely needed that game. They won it. And now, they have the Dallas Cowboys coming to Soldier Field on Thursday night.
The Bears need to win out against Dallas, Green Bay, Kansas City, and Minnesota to even have a chance at the Wild Card. They need a ton of help, too. And they got a little bit of help on Monday night when Seattle took down the Vikings.
At this point, the Bears can, and should, only worry about the Bears. Just win. Keep the season going. Live to fight another week. And that mission starts tomorrow night on the lakefront against a talented, but struggling, Cowboys team.
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With that, I reach into this week’s Bears Mailbag. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions — I always appreciate the participation. Follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Mailbag
I still don’t understand why people believe the play calling is the problem. Is it perfect? No. There are situational areas that Matt Nagy can certainly get better in. But when you are scheming receivers open everywhere and the execution is subpar all around, you can’t pin it on the play calling.
There are elements of the offense that need to change — I’ve been saying for a while that Mark Helfrich’s fingerprints are all over the offense (and it isn’t a good thing.) I think the Bears would benefit from making a change at offensive coordinator and bringing in someone like Jay Gruden to consult on the offense — similar to how Gary Kubiak is helping Kevin Stefanski in Minnesota. There are concepts that can be overhauled and someone smart and experienced (and previously successful) like Gruden can be a great sounding board there.
But I think Nagy should (and will) continue to call plays. Many of his designs are beautiful. They just aren’t being executed well enough, and that needs to improve.
Most teams have figured out that Mitch Trubisky struggles against zone defenses. To beat it, a quarterback has to read defenses and process the field well (and quickly) which is something Trubisky isn’t able to well enough. This has been proven over and over again, especially this year. On tape, it’s clear that receivers are getting open and settling into the zones. Trubisky just isn’t able to find them consistently.
Meanwhile, Matt Patricia likes running man schemes on defense — something that actually gave Patrick Mahomes trouble in Kansas City’s visit to Detroit. But man coverage is, in theory, easier for QBs to read. The Bears’ receivers do a good job getting open against it (Allen Robinson and Anthony Miller are basically un-guardable facing man coverage.)
For some reason, the Lions have continued to dial up man against Trubisky and he’s made them play. To the Lions’ credit, they did mix in a bit of zone at times on Thanksgiving Day, and those were moments where the offense stalled a bit. But they played man in critical situations — especially on the final drive. Trubisky beat them.
Don’t expect the remaining defensive coordinators on the Bears’ schedule to make the same mistake.
Q: Jalen Hurts, Cam (Newton) or Justin Herbert. Who would you take? — Jackson P.
I’ve said for a while that Cam Newton is not a good fit for this offense. Matt Nagy requires a quarterback that can read the field well and deliver accurate passes on time. Cam doesn’t do either of those things that well. His biggest strength, his legs/running ability, has diminished considerably due to age and injury. He just isn’t the weapon he once was.
Jalen Hurts is a fun weapon, but he is nowhere near good enough as a passer to succeed in Matt Nagy’s offense. Lamar Jackson wasn’t anywhere near good enough as a passer when he was drafted out of Louisville, but he has improved CONSIDERABLY to be a bona fide weapon, complementing his otherworldly running ability. Hurts would need to make a similar jump throwing the ball, and he isn’t what Lamar is on the ground.
That leaves Justin Herbert. He’s an interesting prospect — he makes some remarkable throws and struggles with easy throws at times. He’s — wait for it — similar to Mitch Trubisky. He’s just had more experience. He possesses all the strengths (and weaknesses) that Trubisky did coming out. Do the Bears want to go down that road again?
Something to note: Herbert is almost guaranteed to be a first round pick — something the Bears don’t have this year. So this may be a moot point anyway.
Q: How do you see the rest of the season ending? — Claire M.
Like I said above, the Bears still have an outside chance at the playoffs if they can win out and get some help. Their schedule is brutal to close out the season. While I think the Bears *can* win each game, I doubt they will. I envision a 7-9 or an 8-8 finish. Here’s how I think things will end:
vs. DAL — L
@ GB — L
vs. KC — W
@ MIN — W
