The Chicago Bears decided to play it safe this week by holding out quarterback Mitch Trubisky again with his right shoulder injury. This despite indications that he’s all but healthy and could’ve gone had the game been “more important.” Here’s the thing though. Every game in the NFL is important. Matt Nagy seemed to forget that.
If your top quarterback can play, he should play. Instead the head coach placed his trust in a journeyman backup with three career starts to win a game on the road for the second-straight week. It had disaster written all over it and people who expected as much weren’t disappointed. Chase Daniel was awful, and that’s putting it mildly.
In a game that looked like the Bears had total control of in the 1st half, the quarterback essentially kept New York in the game. First with his bad pick-six to start things off and then with his frequent mistakes that followed. He missed a lot of open receivers and took unnecessary sacks. It seemed the more Nagy called his number, the more he wilted under the pressure.
The defense and talented cast around him tried to compensate, but it wasn’t enough. After a fun week of silliness, it was finally laid to rest about whether or not Mitch Trubisky is a legitimate starting quarterback.
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Mitch Trubisky truly does elevate the Chicago Bears offense
Facts are facts. In two games with Daniel under center, he’s thrown for 384 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. He also had multiple fumbles on the possible game-winning drive in overtime. He probably should’ve had more interceptions too but they were dropped. With Trubisky the Bears were averaging 22.5 points per game on offense with him throwing 20 touchdowns to nine interceptions.
That’s not even mentioning his game-breaking ability to scramble. The Bears really missed him in that department as he’s run for 363 yards and three touchdowns in just 10 games. Daniel played two average games against two average defenses. He may be smart and a good teammate, but there’s a reason he’s been a journeyman most of his career.
The Bears may have trusted Daniel to hold down the fort but the fact is he was their weak link in a game they should’ve won. For them to score 27 points and force overtime after being down 24-14 with him playing like that, it makes one wonder if it would’ve been a game at all with Trubisky.
