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By Cian Fahey
@Cianaf
https://presnapreads.com
The Dallas Cowboys are everyone's solution as of late. Mitchell Trubisky and the Chicago Bears offense just happened to be next in line.
Having let Josh Allen pick them apart last week, the Cowboys proved to be completely toothless against the Bears again this week. After an early interception, Mitchell Trubisky settled into a rhythm and picked apart the Cowboys secondary. He made some outstanding throws, but in truth he also made a lot of plays that were more about the inability of his opponents rather than his performance.
Surpassed the touchdown throws and the quality of opponent, the most important part of this performance from the Bears quarterback was his willingness to scramble.
Trubisky made a strong start to the opening drive of the game. Maybe most notably, he had two runs for first downs, both scrambles when he couldn't find an open receiver downfield. He hasn't run often this season and it's a big factor for him because he's an athletic quarterback who often lacks clarity of the coverage he's trying to diagnose.
When you can scramble, it's a solution that helps you gain yardage on those plays but also avoid interceptions.
His best throw of the opening drive was this precise seam route to his tight end. Trubisky's timing and understanding of the leverage of the defensive backs allowed him to hit his receiver at the perfect moment and negate the coverage of the defense. Unfortunately, that high would soon be followed by the low.
The low that feels far too familiar for Bears fans so far this season.
It's always dangerous to attack all three levels of the defense on the same side of the field when there isn't much field left. Without the depth to attack, there is less space for the receivers to run into and the quarterback to throw into. But even understanding that. Trubisky shouldn't have been intercepted on this play.
He bootlegs left and doesn't have his underneath option or his deeper corner route. The intermediate route comes open after working around aggressive man coverage.
To be fair to Trubisky, this isn't an easy throw because of how the route has to develop before it comes wide open. But it's also not a throw that he should be missing this egregiously. Rolling left contributes to this.
The ball is overthrown so severely that the cornerback who had been covering the cornerback actually peels back and picks it off. The deep safety who had read the play was closing on the receiver at an angle that brought him too far beneath the ball.
Once the Bears defense got a stop, the Bears began their next drive near midfield. Trubisky threw a touchdown pass but that play wasn't all that significant.
His touchdown throw was a short one. He hit Allen Robinson perfectly into tight coverage on a slant route. Something we know Trubisky is capable of. The big play to get them that close to the endzone was a perfectly executed tight end screen, again not a play that is teaching us all that much about Trubisky.
Instead, the biggest play of that drive was actually the sack that Trubisky took.
Avoiding interceptions has not been something Trubisky has proven capable of doing since Matt Nagy came into Chicago. He's thrown interceptions by just wildly missing open receivers, he's thrown interceptions by panicking in the pocket and he's thrown interceptions by completely misreading coverages. He was set to throw an interception on this play until he pulled the ball back.
Trubisky pulled the ball back because he saw two of his receivers running to the same spot. The Bears had audibled prior to this snap. Obviously, someone had got the wrong call. Trubisky recognizing this meant there was no risk of a turnover.
He took a sack, then located Tarik Cohen out wide with an excellent play on third down, again born from his ability to diagnose the coverage quickly.
The Bears followed up their touchdown drive with good field position again after a three-and-out for the Cowboys. Eddie Piniero kicked a field goal after David Montgomery ran them into field goal range. A penalty prevented Trubisky from throwing for a first down at the end of a drive where he had little involvement.
During the final two minutes of the first half, the Bears relied on Montgomery to move the offense downfield. Trubisky scrambled for six yards and hit a five-yard curl route over the middle before a penalty moved the offense to First-and-15.
98% of the time, it's easy to diagnose an NFL play. You can generally label it as good or bad. If you can't do either, you can detail out exactly what happened and why. This play is in the two percent where even with replays it's hard to say exactly what should have happened.
Trubisky locates his receiver late but has the arm talent to fit the ball past Jaylon Smith, the linebacker undercutting the throw from the middle of the field. He connects with his receiver who turns upfield for a first down. But the question on this play revolves around Jourdan Lewis, the cornerback breaking from the outside.
Lewis is in position but pulls up when Smith dives for the ball. He thinks the linebacker has got it, so doesn't finish the play.
Now what makes this difficult to diagnose is whether Lewis would have reached the ball or not. The fact that the ball is on Anthony Miller's outside shoulder suggests that he would have at worst tipped it away. He may have even intercepted it. It's hard to be certain.
The Bears had three pass attempts in the redzone. Each time they threw at Jaylon Smith. Each time Smith was covering a wide receiver with no help. On first down, the Cowboys doubled both outside slot receivers, Allen Robinson and Cordarrelle Patterson, leaving Wims to run up the seam against Smith inside.
On second down, the Cowboys blitzed to leave one-on-one man coverage across the board.
Then, on third down, the Bears moved Robinson inside so he was matched up one-on-one with Smith. The Bears best receiver against a linebacker is a huge mismatch, obviously. Smith actually does a great job sticking to Robinson, but the throw is again perfect. He fits the ball into a non-existent window, an even better throw than the first half touchdown to Robinson.
Although this play was ruled a simultaneous reception, it wasn't. Robinson had it cleanly before Smith jumped on it.
On the opening play of the third quarter, Trubisky ran for his third first down of the game. He recognized the defense selling out to stop the frontside motion. WIthout hesitation, he turned and sprinted to the opposite side of the field for the conversion.
A huge YAC play from Cordarrelle Patterson led to a screen touchdown on an RPO to Anthony Miller for the touchdown. At that point, the Bears were leading 24-7 and the Cowboys were in danger of chasing a game that was already lost.
They would get a stop and score a touchdown by the first play of the fourth quarter, but then Trubisky ended the competition on his own.
Brett Maher's struggles as the Cowboys kicker continued. He missed a field goal then kicked the ball out of bounds after the Cowboys scored a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. That gave the Bears good starting field position. A penalty moved them to midfield, from where Trubisky launched his attack.
Trubisky's rookie season was defined by his ability to make incredible throws into non-existent windows. Those throws have been less consistent this season. His first two touchdown throws were outstanding, but this was his best throw of the game.
Moving left, locating Robinson and dropping the ball into the only spot he could complete it. A dime!
@Cianaf
https://presnapreads.com
The Dallas Cowboys are everyone's solution as of late. Mitchell Trubisky and the Chicago Bears offense just happened to be next in line.
Having let Josh Allen pick them apart last week, the Cowboys proved to be completely toothless against the Bears again this week. After an early interception, Mitchell Trubisky settled into a rhythm and picked apart the Cowboys secondary. He made some outstanding throws, but in truth he also made a lot of plays that were more about the inability of his opponents rather than his performance.
Surpassed the touchdown throws and the quality of opponent, the most important part of this performance from the Bears quarterback was his willingness to scramble.
Trubisky made a strong start to the opening drive of the game. Maybe most notably, he had two runs for first downs, both scrambles when he couldn't find an open receiver downfield. He hasn't run often this season and it's a big factor for him because he's an athletic quarterback who often lacks clarity of the coverage he's trying to diagnose.
When you can scramble, it's a solution that helps you gain yardage on those plays but also avoid interceptions.
His best throw of the opening drive was this precise seam route to his tight end. Trubisky's timing and understanding of the leverage of the defensive backs allowed him to hit his receiver at the perfect moment and negate the coverage of the defense. Unfortunately, that high would soon be followed by the low.
The low that feels far too familiar for Bears fans so far this season.
It's always dangerous to attack all three levels of the defense on the same side of the field when there isn't much field left. Without the depth to attack, there is less space for the receivers to run into and the quarterback to throw into. But even understanding that. Trubisky shouldn't have been intercepted on this play.
He bootlegs left and doesn't have his underneath option or his deeper corner route. The intermediate route comes open after working around aggressive man coverage.
To be fair to Trubisky, this isn't an easy throw because of how the route has to develop before it comes wide open. But it's also not a throw that he should be missing this egregiously. Rolling left contributes to this.
The ball is overthrown so severely that the cornerback who had been covering the cornerback actually peels back and picks it off. The deep safety who had read the play was closing on the receiver at an angle that brought him too far beneath the ball.
Once the Bears defense got a stop, the Bears began their next drive near midfield. Trubisky threw a touchdown pass but that play wasn't all that significant.
His touchdown throw was a short one. He hit Allen Robinson perfectly into tight coverage on a slant route. Something we know Trubisky is capable of. The big play to get them that close to the endzone was a perfectly executed tight end screen, again not a play that is teaching us all that much about Trubisky.
Instead, the biggest play of that drive was actually the sack that Trubisky took.
Avoiding interceptions has not been something Trubisky has proven capable of doing since Matt Nagy came into Chicago. He's thrown interceptions by just wildly missing open receivers, he's thrown interceptions by panicking in the pocket and he's thrown interceptions by completely misreading coverages. He was set to throw an interception on this play until he pulled the ball back.
Trubisky pulled the ball back because he saw two of his receivers running to the same spot. The Bears had audibled prior to this snap. Obviously, someone had got the wrong call. Trubisky recognizing this meant there was no risk of a turnover.
He took a sack, then located Tarik Cohen out wide with an excellent play on third down, again born from his ability to diagnose the coverage quickly.
The Bears followed up their touchdown drive with good field position again after a three-and-out for the Cowboys. Eddie Piniero kicked a field goal after David Montgomery ran them into field goal range. A penalty prevented Trubisky from throwing for a first down at the end of a drive where he had little involvement.
During the final two minutes of the first half, the Bears relied on Montgomery to move the offense downfield. Trubisky scrambled for six yards and hit a five-yard curl route over the middle before a penalty moved the offense to First-and-15.
98% of the time, it's easy to diagnose an NFL play. You can generally label it as good or bad. If you can't do either, you can detail out exactly what happened and why. This play is in the two percent where even with replays it's hard to say exactly what should have happened.
Trubisky locates his receiver late but has the arm talent to fit the ball past Jaylon Smith, the linebacker undercutting the throw from the middle of the field. He connects with his receiver who turns upfield for a first down. But the question on this play revolves around Jourdan Lewis, the cornerback breaking from the outside.
Lewis is in position but pulls up when Smith dives for the ball. He thinks the linebacker has got it, so doesn't finish the play.
Now what makes this difficult to diagnose is whether Lewis would have reached the ball or not. The fact that the ball is on Anthony Miller's outside shoulder suggests that he would have at worst tipped it away. He may have even intercepted it. It's hard to be certain.
The Bears had three pass attempts in the redzone. Each time they threw at Jaylon Smith. Each time Smith was covering a wide receiver with no help. On first down, the Cowboys doubled both outside slot receivers, Allen Robinson and Cordarrelle Patterson, leaving Wims to run up the seam against Smith inside.
On second down, the Cowboys blitzed to leave one-on-one man coverage across the board.
Then, on third down, the Bears moved Robinson inside so he was matched up one-on-one with Smith. The Bears best receiver against a linebacker is a huge mismatch, obviously. Smith actually does a great job sticking to Robinson, but the throw is again perfect. He fits the ball into a non-existent window, an even better throw than the first half touchdown to Robinson.
Although this play was ruled a simultaneous reception, it wasn't. Robinson had it cleanly before Smith jumped on it.
On the opening play of the third quarter, Trubisky ran for his third first down of the game. He recognized the defense selling out to stop the frontside motion. WIthout hesitation, he turned and sprinted to the opposite side of the field for the conversion.
A huge YAC play from Cordarrelle Patterson led to a screen touchdown on an RPO to Anthony Miller for the touchdown. At that point, the Bears were leading 24-7 and the Cowboys were in danger of chasing a game that was already lost.
They would get a stop and score a touchdown by the first play of the fourth quarter, but then Trubisky ended the competition on his own.
Brett Maher's struggles as the Cowboys kicker continued. He missed a field goal then kicked the ball out of bounds after the Cowboys scored a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter. That gave the Bears good starting field position. A penalty moved them to midfield, from where Trubisky launched his attack.
Trubisky's rookie season was defined by his ability to make incredible throws into non-existent windows. Those throws have been less consistent this season. His first two touchdown throws were outstanding, but this was his best throw of the game.
Moving left, locating Robinson and dropping the ball into the only spot he could complete it. A dime!
| Fittingly, Trubisky followed up on the very next play with a rushing touchdown. Having been reborn as a runner earlier for first downs, Trubsiky took the read-option run and made a safety miss in space to reach the endzone. There was an assured nature in how he executed this read. There was no hesitation, no moment to set himself before accelerating. He read the defensive end and he was gone. Trubisky's confidence was on show all throughout this game. There was a great endzone angle replay of this play on the broadcast, but this angle is better for strategic purposes. That is because at the top of the screen you can see a bubble screen built into the play. This is the type of play they threw a touchdown on to Miller earlier in the game. It's an RPO, a foundational play of the Matt Nagy offense. It's also a play that Trubisky hasn't executed properly throughout this season. So even while this play isn't necessarily a difficult one, the smooth nature of the execution is notable for what has been a struggling offense. Of course, this game might be meaningless. Trubisky has been better as of late but he's also a streaky passer. He's very capable of playing like he did tonight, but he's also capable of being a complete mess again next week. No quarterback in the league relies on his first couple of plays to set the tone for the rest of his performance like Trubisky does. He's still the same player who has no middle ground. It's either awful or it's great. Tonight it was great. Against competent opponents, it needs to stay great if the Bears are going to do anything of significance this year or in the future. |
