Trubisky flashes, crashes in Monday Night loss to Vikings

Mitch Trubisky didn’t play poorly in his NFL debut for the Chicago Bears, but he shows he’s no savior yet in loss to Minnesota Vikings.

Well, there it is, ladies and gentleman: Mitch Trubisky‘s first start for the Chicago Bears is in the books.

Man, why did it have to feel like such a buzzkill?

Trubisky certainly showed that he belongs on the big stage, maintaining poise and showing off his raw play-making ability all night. And no one can argue with his ability to throw the football.

But as Bears fans learned today, he isn’t ready to save this football team from its struggles just yet.

Trubisky threw a brutal interception to Harrison Smith with the score tied late in the game, setting up a game-winning field goal from Kai Forbath as the Minnesota Vikings won 20-17. It cast a pall over what was generally a positive performance from the second-overall pick and dropped the Bears to 1-4 this year.

And, on the whole, it showed how far the Chicago Bears have to go as an entire team before they’re ready to compete for a title.

Penalties and sloppy play ruled the night for Chicago much as it has over the last two seasons. And some of Trubisky and the offenses’ best plays became causalities of this mistakes.

So if you thought the Bears were going to make a playoff run with Trubisky this year, check yourself.

Here are some highlights from the game.

Big Plays:

1. Trubisky completes his first pass

First off, let’s remember this one for posterity: the first of hopefully thousands of NFL completions for the youngster.

Second: hot damn. That’s just a special throw.

I’ll grade him a bit more extensively later, but for now, I think the eye test will serve fine for this play. Imagine Mike Glennon doing that.

2. Fox busts out the fake punt

Who would’ve figured the first touchdown pass of the new age Chicago Bears would come from the punter?

For all the negative (deservedly so) coverage Fox gets, this was a pretty nice call from the head coach. He clearly caught the Vikings napping here and gave the Bears a spark they really needed.

After all, up to that point, Leonard Floyd had given the Chicago Bears their only points of the game with asack- safety of Sam Bradford.

Now, if only someone could tell me why he didn’t feel adventurous enough to go for the tie afterward. I suppose it wasn’t really a big deal at the time, but still…odd decision.

3. Trubisky gets on the board…twice

After a long Jerick McKinnon touchdown run, the Chicago Bears offense badly needed to get something going. Fortunately, Trubisky was up to the challenge, finally getting the offense their first score of the game.

Now, I must say I did have some mixed feelings about how it happened, though, which bears partly on what he happened later.

He had made a questionable throw like this to Zach Miller earlier in the game that was lucky to fall incomplete.

I had the exact same reaction when I saw this ball go up in the air and briefly again when the ball was tipped. But as fate would have it…

Eh, I guess we’ll still take it, right? Happy First Touchdown, kid.

And then, Fox and Dowell Loggains completely made up for not going for two earlier with this absolute gem of a two-point conversion play.

I have literally never seen anything remotely like that. Also, for as many things as could have gone wrong on this play, the Bears executed it perfectly. Thank goodness Miller was a former quarterback…

Stud of the Game: Leonard Floyd/Eddie Jackson

Boy, have we all been waiting for this one for a while.

Floyd absolutely surged to the forefront of this game, sacking Bradford for a safety to get the Bears on the board. in the second half, which killed a potential third-down conversion opportunity for Minnesota. Just generally, Mike Remmers couldn’t do a thing with him except hold him on several occasions.

You didn’t think I forgot about this play, did you?

He added another sack in the second half that killed a potential third-down conversion opportunity for Minnesota, finishing with three. Just generally, Mike Remmers couldn’t do a thing with him except hold him on several occasions.

And the rookie safety Jackson?

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He was simply everywhere in this game, displaying the traits that could make him one of the most promising young defensive backs in the league.

All season, he’s flashed improved ability to tackle physically, flying to the ball and finishing aggressively. He threw in a sensational pass breakup in the fourth quarter, Superman-ing into the picture to knock a ball down.

Plus, he locked up Kyle Rudolph to help force an incompletion and set up Trubisky’s final drive.

Dud of the Game: Tarik Cohen

I’m as big a fan of Cohen as anyone, but that was a pretty brutal performance for the electric rookie.

While I understand that his unpredictability is part of his play-making appeal, his excessive dancing made him ineffective in this one.

When given opportunities to run between the tackles, he was too slow to hit holes up the middle. And any time he had space to operate, he ran back and forth instead of getting the corner or just picking up whatever yards he could.

In the end, he finished with just 13 yards rushing and -3 yards receiving. That’s just unacceptable for a playmaker of his caliber.

Next: Look back at the Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings preview

Just remember Chicago Bears fans: this was just the first step in what hopefully will be a long run for Trubisky and this team.

This one ended in disappointment, but it’s about the long run. Stay patient, everyone.