Rozner: Bears win didn't have to be this complicated

The Bears are selling very hard the idea that they are playoff-ready.

There is zero doubt around the league that their defense certainly is, but the offense continues to have something to prove.

Especially on the road.

The defense plays with an earned arrogance befitting a group that believes it can outscore the opposition, but the offense calls a game with an arrogance that is not merited.

And with a week to go in the regular season, there is work to be done.

There's another game yet to figure it out, but it's up to head coach Matt Nagy to come to terms with what this team is about, and that's a defense capable of winning a Super Bowl if Nagy will just give those players a chance.

It's been a theme all year and it showed no signs of changing in the first half Sunday against the Niners.

Down 3-0 after a Cody Parkey miss and a Robbie Gould reminder for GM Ryan Pace, Nagy had another classic Nagy moment, with help from quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who also remains unpredictable.

After Jordan Howard started a drive with runs of 7, 3 and 9, on second-and-1, Nagy was unsatisfied pounding the football.

On the next play, Trubisky kept the ball on the option instead of handing off and rather than dive for the first down, or perhaps no gain, he threw it backward near the sideline to Tarik Cohen, who could not handle the pass.

The Niners had the ball on the fumble and deep in Bears territory again, leading to another Gould field goal and a 6-0 San Francisco lead.

“Sometimes in this offense we have different options and choices and we put a lot on his plate,” Nagy said of Trubisky. “For all the good decisions he made today, that's gonna be the one that comes up that's asked about.

“He shouldn't have thrown it, but that's OK.”

Really?

“There's gonna be times where he doesn't make 100 percent great decisions,” Nagy said, “but we have to be able to accept that.”

In the playoffs, it could be costly.

In any case, with the Bears driving for the lead late in the first half and Trubisky scrambling like Doug Flutie at his finest, the QB threw it right to the Niners in the end zone for a terrible interception.

Fortunately, a call on the other side of the field for defensive holding saved the Bears and they scored on a nice Trubisky throw to Anthony Miller for a 7-6 Bears lead.

“That's great growth,” Nagy said. “That's a part of who he's gonna be in that offense. In the end, hopefully years down the road, it just lessens in regards to the negative stuff.”

The sooner the better for both Trubisky and Nagy, given the opportunity in front of them right now.

There is a learning curve for both and at times they seem to progress, as they did on the Bears' first drive of the second half.

Down 9-7, the offense went 90 yards on 12 plays, a mix up short, safe passes and runs, concluding with Howard up the middle for a 2-yard TD run and a 14-9 lead. The 7-minute, 43-second drive was the longest for the Bears by time this season.

Exhale.

Sure, it's frustrating, but it also shows how easy it can be if the Bears will just keep it simple.

After that, it was merely up to the defense to do its thing, which was seal the deal for the visitors.

Trubisky hasn't played well on the road this season, but he had an excellent second half Sunday when Nagy took the game out of the QB's head and kept the game plan humble.

Maybe that was the step forward — the second half they played offensively Sunday — that Bears fans have been waiting for all season.

“As an offense in the first half it was a little choppy,” Nagy said. “We've had those halves before, right?

“The beauty of our players on offense is that they're resilient. They get in at halftime. They figure out the 'why' part and we go out and go right down the field.”

The Bears are 11-4 and have locked up the No. 3 seed in the NFC after a difficult 14-9 victory Sunday on the road, a victory made more difficult by some odd decisions, awful execution and concerning ball security.

They have one more week to get it straightened out.