Trubisky, Gabriel connect as Bears trounce Washington

The Chicago Bears paid a visit to the nation's capital Monday night and left with a convincing win over Washington that checked a number of boxes, but also raised a few new questions and left them bruised and battered pointing towards a key NFC North showdown Sunday at home with Minnesota.

The defense had been near perfect over the first two weeks of the season but wasn't taking the ball away with the regularity it did last year.

Less than three minutes into the second half the Bears had taken the ball from Washington quarterback Case Keenum four times already with 3 picks and a fumble recovery leading directly to 21 points.

Another note on those 21 points off turnovers, the Bears had managed just one touchdown on offense in their first two games, but much maligned quarterback Mitch Trubisky and wideout Taylor Gabriel hooked up for three TD tosses in the first half alone.

Perhaps most importantly by the end of the first half and into the second Trubisky actually began to resemble the Pro Bowl alternate quarterback from his sophomore campaign more than the struggling and at times seeming uncertain QB we saw in the first two weeks.

The Bears grabbed the momentum on Washington's fourth play of the game when Ha Ha Clinton-Dix got the first of his two interceptions on the night and returned it 37 yards to the house.

The Bears then forced a quick punt on defense but Trubisky was inaccurate early. Fortunately he was bailed out a number of times on inaccurate throws to Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and David Montgomery and the Bears managed to dink and dunk their way down the field, building a 21-0 lead with 5 ½ minutes to play in the first half.

Trubisky was an impressive 17-of-19 but totaled just 110 yards and still seemed to be struggling to make plays.

Next up though a Kyle Fuller interception set the Bears up at their own 37 and this time Trubisky started throwing the ball down the field, with the drive culminating in a beautiful 36 yard thrown on the run to Gabriel who made a spectacular catch somehow keeping both feet in bounds to stretch the game to 28-0 before the half.

Trubisky came out throwing again in the second half and looked very good getting the ball further down the field until his one big mistake of the game, an underthrown fade to Allen Robinson at the goalline that resulted in a Josh Norman pick.

All in all it was a big night for the Bears, Trubisky, the defense and Matt Nagy, who schemed brilliantly to have Bears receivers matched up on Washington linebackers all night long, but it was still far from perfect.

Instead of putting Washington away the Bears defense seemed to relax late in the third quarter and early in the fourth leading to 12 unanswered points and with Washington driving and fourth and 1 at the Bears 16 with 7:00 to play the game was still in doubt.

That was where Danny Trevathan stepped up and caused his second fumble of the night from Keenum, for the most part ending Washington's hopes and cementing the win.

With one more box to check, rookie David Montgomery took over on the ground running the 4:00 drill to near perfection and allowing the Bears to salt the game away.

By any objective analysis Washington is an awful football team and there's a good chance the Bears performance Monday night wouldn't have been good enough against a better team.

But it was what the doctor ordered with the defense proving once again it can win on its own if it has to.

The offense showed a great deal we had been waiting to see all season, and the whole group and in particular Mitch Trubisky come home with a lot they can build on.

We can't however ignore, and I'm sure Nagy won't that rather than put a bad team away the Bears relaxed and let Washington hang around and almost back in the game, and in addition to Bobby Massie being a surprise scratch, after his third touchdown Gabriel left with a concussion and Akiem Hicks was unable to finish due to a knee injury.

All things considered though the Bears come home in better shape than when they left.

• Hub Arkush, the executive editor of Pro Football Weekly, can be reached at harkush@profootballweekly.com or on Twitter @Hub_Arkush.