Insider Reveals Interesting Nugget On Mitch Trubisky Benching

A lot has been discussed regarding the decision by head coach Matt Nagy to bench Mitch Trubisky. Most of it about the timing. The Chicago Bears were 2-0. Yes, they were struggling in Atlanta but the quarterback had already led one big comeback two weeks prior. Why not give him a chance to do it again? Nagy’s response was it came down to a gut feeling.

Given what Nick Foles accomplished? It’s hard to criticize that decision.

Still, there is more to it than a simple gut reaction. This was something that had been building in Nagy for a long time. The buzz word that has emerged is “trust.” What does that mean? NFL insider Mike Garafolo revealed some of the stuff he was hearing after that game.

It was about ownership and trust.

“It fits right in with what I heard from that game the other day…On that last touchdown pass, Foles said, ‘Get to the L in the end zone. I’m going to put the ball right there.’ Also on that play, which you may have missed, as the snap was coming to him he’s killing the play because he yelled it out and forgot. He told everybody, ‘Look at me. Look at me.’

Then he gets pressure in his face and he’s still able to make the throw because he knew what he saw and he knew it was going to be there. Nagy, when he (Foles) went into the game, at some point I’m told, he told him, ‘Hey, whatever we got to do to win this game, win this game.’ Because they didn’t game plan for you necessarily, he’s thinking.

So if you got to kill the play? Kill the play. You saw it on that play and a couple of other plays. Foles was at the line changing things, taking ownership of what they saw and really putting them in a position to win that game.”

Mitch Trubisky just couldn’t and didn’t take command

The reality is Trubisky never did what a quarterback is expected to do. Take the designs of the offense beyond the design. He was too robotic, running the plays that were called and never reading the defenses. Unless the play calls were perfect, they weren’t going to work. That puts a ton of pressure on someone like Nagy. Hence why he grew more and more frustrated.

That final interception, one that showcased Trubisky’s inability to see the obvious, was the last straw. Foles got the nod to go in and immediately took command of things. He wasn’t afraid to make changes at the line if he felt they were right. He took chances down the field. All the things a veteran quarterback is expected to do.

That Trubisky couldn’t do that despite two full years of experience in this offense pretty much tells the story.