Matt Nagy got a surprising amount of heat after the comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons. Much of it having to do with his decision to pull Mitch Trubisky in favor of Nick Foles during the 3rd quarter. Some analysts and former players or coaches couldn’t understand it. Trubisky had led a big comeback just a couple of weeks ago. Why bench him now?
Nagy said it was a gut feeling. Reports since have indicated the final straw for the head coach was Trubisky’s interception on that final play before Foles went in. For some, this wasn’t a good enough explanation. Essentially ending a young QB’s last chance at the starting job over an interception when his team was 2-0 and not out of the game yet? It couldn’t have been that bad.
Former QB Chris Simms disagrees.
During his “Unbuttoned” show for NBC Sports, he agreed with most. Trubisky wasn’t playing that bad for most of the game. Then he saw the interception.
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“But the interception is that bad. It would be that be to where if a guy was playing a solid game, and the two games before that had just played okay football that you’d go, ‘Whoa. How the f**k can you throw that ball against that coverage?‘ Let alone the tight end (Jimmy Graham) wasn’t even looking. He’s told not to look so he doesn’t get killed against that play. He is literally looking at the sideline because if you give eyes, that means he thinks he’s open and the quarterback might throw the ball.
It was Cover 3 all the way. Nobody moved. He threw it like it was man-to-man and he (Graham) was going to catch it and just run free. That is such a troubling bad interception that I can see a coach going, ‘Whoa. He’s not seeing anything right. He’s flustered.'”
Mitch Trubisky was sunk by a familiar problem
The biggest criticism that had developed with him over the past year was a lack of field vision. Too many times he would struggle to read defenses prior to the snap. Disguised coverages or delayed blitzes would constantly fool him. Then after the snap, he would fail to see defenders dropping into zone, resulting in several ill-fated passes that were either intercepted or should’ve been intercepted.
A coach can only take watching stuff like that for so long before he cracks. Nagy reached his breaking point after that one in Atlanta. Knowing he finally had a solution on the bench in Foles, he made the switch. People can blame him all they like. In reality, Trubisky did it to himself. His inability to grasp the speed of the NFL level was his ultimate undoing.
