Rozner: Bears, Foles win thriller as Trubisky finally benched

It's one of the best plays Mitch Trubisky has ever made in a Bears uniform.

He used great vision, outstanding quickness and all his many physical attributes in chasing down an opposing runner with a touchdown-saving tackle.

Of course, he had just thrown another interception, but it was a very nice tackle.

We always search for the positives here.

For the love of Cade McNown and all that's holy, it was a classic Trubisky pick. He could not tell the difference between man and zone and was baited into throwing it to Jimmy Graham, who never had a chance.

This was the Mitch Trubisky that GM Ryan Pace insisted had learned to read a defense.

This was the Mitch Trubisky that head coach Matt Nagy insisted had learned to read a defense.

This was the Mitch Trubisky that Mitch Trubisky insisted had learned to read a defense through so much hard work in the offseason and during the training camp “competition.”

In his fourth year in the NFL — his fourth season — all of the Trubisky apologists insisted he would be one of the league's best, as they have told you since the day he was drafted, even though Pat Mahomes was able to do it in his very first year starting and with so many other teams understanding quickly that QBs either know how to play in the NFL, or they don't.

It's not only about Nick Foles, who was very good in relief of Trubisky Sunday, leading the Bears to a 30-26 victory over the Falcons in Atlanta, including 3 TD passes in 4:27 of the final 6 minutes of the game.

Foles made throws Trubisky would have never made because Trubisky never would have seen those receivers with the rush in his face. Foles sees things before and after the snap, and communicates such with his teammates, also something Trubisky has never been able to do.

But this has little to do with Foles, or any other of the other quarterbacks the Bears could have had for almost nothing — like Cam Newton — instead of paying Foles a guaranteed $21 million.

Yes, Nagy could have gone to Foles at halftime of the very first game this season, but he's got Pace constantly looking over his shoulder, telling him that his franchise quarterback is still his franchise quarterback.

It's not only about Foles, how he played under difficult circumstances Sunday, how he plays moving forward or if Nagy goes back to Trubisky at the flip of a Ryan Pace switch.

It's not even about how dreadful a play caller Nagy has been, how married he has been to his Trubisky-is-a-hero game plan, and how unbending he has been in the way he will determine the next brilliant maneuver.

It truly seemed as if he had no feel for the game and was going to follow the script no matter what. To borrow from Jack Nicholson, “I run my unit how I run my unit.”

We will see now if Nagy starts to open up the offense with a professional quarterback on the field, whether he will use the pass to set up the run — and commit to the run — or whether he will fall back into so many bad habits.

But really, this is about what you've been sold by Pace, Nagy, Trubisky and all those who carry their water for them, game after game, month after month, season after season.

You watch the games and you know what you see, yet they tell you your eyes are wrong. What you're seeing is not really what you're seeing.

Trubisky is not bad, they tell you. He is actually great. You just need better football glasses.

That's not even the most disturbing aspect in all of this.

Look, Trubisky is what he is. You know it and his teammates know it. It's not a secret anywhere else in the NFL. Only in Lake Forest.

What's most disturbing is the games and seasons that have been wasted on a project that started 13 games in college, that the Bears believed was worth trading picks to move up one spot in the draft.

Sure, it's painful to watch Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. It's painful to see all the other QBs the Bears could have brought in had they been willing to move on from Trubisky.

It's embarrassing when you see Josh Rosen taken 10th by the Cardinals in 2018, and then see him traded him after 13 starts as the Cards drafted Kyler Murray at No. 1 the following year.

That all hurts if you root for the locals.

But what's worse is the way the Bears and their apologists have protected Trubisky and protected Pace, when this has been apparent to everyone else for so long.

That won't stop now. The Bears will continue to prop up Trubisky and so will those who can't stop defending him. Nagy actually sounded wounded postgame that he had to make the move Sunday.

Meanwhile, the defense gets older by the day and looks worse by the week, and this roster is going to have some problems as the months and years tick by.

It's has been such a waste of time, this insistence by the Trubisky mob that something was going to change, when Foles showed you in just a few throws what genuine QB play looks like in the NFL.

What happens moving forward will be fascinating, as Foles has to continue to play well or risk giving Nagy an opportunity to put Trubisky back in a game.

And the defense has struggled against a trio of really bad teams, adding to your 2020 concerns.

But at least the Bears are 3-0 and you were — miraculously and finally — given the opportunity to watch someone other than Trubisky play quarterback Sunday.

That is more than enough reason to celebrate.