Chicago Bears: 5 Observations from embarrassing Week 7 loss

1. Trubisky needs to improve quickly

Mitchell Trubisky is another person whose honeymoon with the fans is over. Fans gave him a break after his time with defensive-minded and run game supporter John Fox. He had a good season last year, but still had some trouble. That was explained away by many who said it was his third offensive system he learned in three seasons.

This season was supposed to be different. This is the second season under Nagy’s system. His teammates and coaches spoke during the preseason about how much of a better handle he had of the system. Then, when the season began, we saw the same Trubisky.

He continually overthrew receivers deep, he didn’t go through his progressions, and he had trouble throwing easy passes like a ten-yard out. As this season goes on, we’re now seeing him regress. Last season, even with his faults, he came away with pinpoint passes for scores.

In 2018, the Trubisky-led Chicago Bears offense ranked ninth in points scored. This season, they rank 26th.

We should have seen something like this coming. Last season, even while being ranked in the top ten in scoring, they finished 21st in total yards. This season they are down to 30th. The passing attack ranked 24th in passing attempts and 21st in passing yards. This season, they rank 9th in passing attempts but rank 29th in passing yards.

Trubisky was just awful against the Saints. He made the same mistakes on his passes, looking like he hasn’t done anything to improve. Nagy spoke about how Trubisky makes the throws during practices but it just hasn’t translated to games.

The questions about Trubisky being the franchise quarterback are growing. Some fans are even starting to discuss if he is a bust. I’m not on the bust bandwagon but he’s getting closer to not being the answer.

Trubisky has the rest of the season to change the narrative on him. If he doesn’t, the Bears have a big decision on him. They are firmly behind him, but if the fans keep booing him and start to bash him on sports radio and social media, they might have to make a change.

If they cut him (a move I don’t see them making) it gives the Bears $9.2 million in dead money. If they trade him, they have a $4.6 million dead money hit, but they receive $4.4 million in salary cap relief.

I don’t see the Bears cutting ties with Trubisky in 2020. I also don’t see them giving him the fifth-year option should he continue to struggle. They need to make a decision quickly and decisively, though.

Having a dependable quarterback is crucial for a team to succeed. Look at the Miami Dolphins situation. They took seven years to decide that Ryan Tannehill wasn’t the answer. That ended up hurting the team and now they are in tank mode to try to find a franchise quarterback. The Chicago Bears are in a better situation, but if they wait too long on Trubisky it could cost them big.