Bears' Nagy say QB Trubisky is 'absolutely' still the starter

Yes, Mitch Trubisky was hurt, suffering a hip pointer in the second quarter of Sunday night's game against the Los Angeles Rams.

As frustrating as it was to Bears fans and media as the closing minutes of the game unfolded in real time, Bears coach Matt Nagy did a thorough and seemingly very genuine job of explaining the sequence of events that lead to Trubisky not being allowed to finish the game in Los Angeles.

And Nagy left himself zero wiggle room when I asked him if Trubisky is still his starter, responding, "Absolutely, absolutely!"

So why did what sounds like it should have been a fairly normal football injury bubble over into such a huge controversy?

Nagy explained, "In regards to Mitch - he has a right hip pointer. It happened on the sack at the end of the second quarter. He took a knee by No. 90 right into the hip/lower back.

"Instead of going into the (medical) tent there at the end, we did it inside with our trainer. He got looked at, was in some pain but we went through the whole thing, we knew he was good to go.

"What ended up happening over time with him is it became stiff, tighter and tighter, and that's where we ended up keeping an eye on it and noticing that, we wanted to be careful about it affecting his play."

What complicated things further was an issue not too unlike the kerfuffle that blew up a few weeks ago after Eddy Piñeiro indicated the ball wasn't spotted where he might have preferred on his missed field goal attempt at the end of the Chargers game.

Nagy and Chris Tabor said they went through their normal communications before the kick, but I don't think anyone ever flat out said we asked Eddy where he wanted the ball?

After Daniel's second or third snap Sunday night, Al Michaels said during the TV broadcast "P.R. says there's nothing to report (on Mitch)."

Why the injury wasn't conveyed to the network partner I can only guess and Nagy couldn't say.

So let's put the injury part aside now because it really isn't the focus of the Bears quarterback dilemma.

The real question is can Trubisky be salvaged, can he be the guy?

In his comments after the game Trubisky didn't seen to even know the specifics of his injury and sounded confused and somewhat lost, so I asked Nagy if the young man still has the confidence and temperament to be his starting QB?

"That's shouldn't be an issue. After the game is an emotional time, you can at least respect that and I think that for him, everything that he's been going through, to have this happen, he's no dummy.

"In that situation, everyone thinks that's what it is or that's what it's going to be.

"So I'm sure that was still going through his head even in that news conference. So we lose a game, there's the emotions of that, there's a lot going on there.

"So I think we have to take a little of that into account with that whole 24-hour deal."

While I do respect and understand Nagy's response, like so much with Mitch it really isn't an answer to the question and unfortunately Sunday night's events accelerated the time frame in which they have to find one.

The real shame of it all is Trubisky wasn't the reason the Bears lost to the Rams. They were the better team most of the night but instead of winning once again found ways to lose.

Now Bears Nation is up in arms, its most vocal tribesmen screaming for the heads of Ryan Pace and/or Matt Nagy on a platter.

Of course that will accomplish nothing and be unjust to boot since the Bears are still one of the best defenses in the league and have one of its more talented young rosters.

But now they are losers and so while this season is lost, the next six games have become the most important in years.

Now we have to find out if any of the G.M., head coach and/or quarterback are in fact a lost cause or able to provide some answers?

• @Hub_Arkush is the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly.