Hub Arkush: Trubisky proves Texans games wasn't a fluke
The Bears went to their bye six weeks ago having lost five straight, looking to reinvent themselves in an effort to salvage their season.
The defense embarrassed itself out of the bye, but Mitch Trubisky returned to the starting quarterback spot in Green Bay and the offense began to take off.
A week later, the defense struggled again but the offense and Trubisky continued to grow and only three blown plays late by their offensive tackles cost them the game - a loss that looms large now.
Last week, the Bears played their best game of the season but it was against the lowly Texans, giving everyone pause and left to say, 'Let's see you do it again.'
The Bears did Sunday. Led once again by Trubisky and the offense, they came away 33-27 victors.
With the exception of one near disastrous decision late that led to his first pick in three weeks, Trubisky's field generalship was near flawless.
Now, the Bears are back in the thick of the playoff race and all the talk about who should or shouldn't be fired that was dominating the air around the Bears is on hold for at least the next seven days.
While it seemed impossible just over a week ago, the Bears now have bigger fish to fry.
Immediately following the game Matt Nagy had this to say about his "new offense" and recycled starting quarterback.
"Yeah, so it was great to see the way that he ran the offense all day today, decision making with these nakeds getting onto the edge, and it's a stress to the defense with the moving parts, Nagy said. "I think he's (Trubisky) doing a really good job at just commanding it and making good decisions.
"He made some nice throws over the middle to wide receivers, and (the) tight ends made some great catches, run after the catch, so all of that right now is a little bit of our identity that we're clicking with.
"You see when he has to throw the ball 21 times and we're able to run the ball with running backs for 32 attempts, it makes offense a lot easier and it's effective."
That last part about the run-heavy offense led to near perfect balance, delivering 199 yards rushing and 198 yards passing, 6-for-12 success on third down and a six-minute advantage in time of possession.
Trubisky says they're confident now and it does matter.
"I would say we're definitely ... I don't want to quite say night and day but our confidence is way up from earlier in the season, where it just seemed like we were a little unsure about what we wanted to do, who we wanted to be," he said.
"I feel like we have more of an identity now. Guys are buying into it. There's more passion and excitement at practice over the last few weeks.
"We feel like we like we keep getting better every single week and when you keep getting better and guys get more experience, playing together, 11 as one, I think that's when guys just really gain confidence, and then you're just able to go out there and play free and play loose and play the way that we know we're capable of playing."
On defense there were big plays and hiccups that kept the Vikings in the game all afternoon, but captain Danny Trevathan says they're happy to let the offense carry the weight right now.
"It's good, it feels great, man," Trevathan said. "We always knew it was going to come. It's just enjoyable watching it grow, the electricity that they bring to us. They've been doing a great job. We've been practicing against them for a long time so we knew what the capability was. Glad to see that it happened but we knew it would."
Why did it take this long? I'm sure we'll be talking about that later.
Have no doubts, this new Bears persona is fragile and many could find themselves right back on the firing line with a bad trip to Jacksonville next Sunday.
But for the moment football is fun again in Chicago, the future is still this year and who can wait to see what happens next?
If Scrooge is to have his way with these guys he's going to have to wait until after Christmas to make it happen.
• Twitter: @Hub_Arkush