Trubisky is Bears' biggest unknown heading into Sunday
Who knows what to expect from Bears QB Mitch Trubisky in his first playoff game Sunday at Soldier Field against the Eagles?
It's anyone's guess because it's difficult to say what to expect from the Bears' offense. In recent games, Trubisky has played smart, efficient football, eliminating mistakes and taking what opposing defenses give him. But, considering coach Matt Nagy's propensity for rolling the dice and aggressive play-calling, it's a mistake to typecast the Bears as a ball-control offense or Trubisky as a game manager.
Even Trubisky, the second overall pick in the 2017 draft, is undecided about the identity of the offense.
“I'm not really sure,” he said, “I think it's always changing and we're just going to continue to do what works. The good thing about this offense is we have a bunch of players who can go off in different games. It could be a high-scoring passing game for the receivers or for the running backs, and the O-line is doing a great job run blocking and pass blocking.”
Two of the Bears' three most productive rushing games came in the final four weeks of the regular season, and RB Jordan Howard averaged 4.5 yards per carry in December after averaging 3.3 from September-November. Since throwing 3 interceptions vs. the Rams in Week 14 while completing just 53.3 percent of his passes, Trubisky has not been picked off while connecting on 76.0 percent of his throws.
“We just want to be hard on defenses,” Trubisky said, “and everyone plays unselfish football. So it's just going out there and rolling with what works, staying on the field, help take care of our defense and take care of the football.”
Trubisky posted an 85.9 passer rating last week despite finishing the game without any of his top three wide receivers — Allen Robinson (ribs), Taylor Gabriel (ribs) and Anthony Miller (shoulder). All three went through full practices Friday for the second straight day and are expected to play Sunday. And OG Kyle Long was back at full strength after a veteran's day of rest Thursday.
But ultimately it's up to Trubisky to make the offense go, and coach Matt Nagy's message to his young quarterback is simple — don't change.
“It's for him to continue to do just what he does,” Nagy said. “Don't put any extra added pressure on himself; (and we) don't do it as coaches. We need to be there to help him. It's not going to be anything completely different for him. Last week he had a little test of it, and I thought he did a great job handling the situation. For all of us, it will be a new situation for us together, for the first time, and I'm looking forward to it.”
Trubisky has often mentioned how important taking care of the football is in his development, but he's also quick to highlight how crucial it is to take advantage of opportunities, and that seems like the mindset he'll take into Sunday's game.
“We're going to continue to do what got us to this point, and that's be aggressive,” he said. “Stay hungry, stay humble, play aggressive football and go for it. As far as I'm concerned, we have nothing to lose. We're going to lay it all out there.”
• Bob LeGere is a senior writer at Pro Football Weekly. Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter at @BobLeGere or @PFWeekly.