Chicago Bears: 5 changes that must be made before Seahawks game

Settle Down Mitch

On the first drive, when the plays were scripted and Mitch Trubisky knew exactly what was coming, he looked fantastic. He took the ball and marched the offense 86 yards down the field for a touchdown on the Bears’ first possession.

However, the Bears only managed to scrape together three field goals, with their only other touchdown coming on an interception return by Khalil Mack. The Bears’ failure to punch the ball into the end zone beyond that opening drive is what ultimately cost them the game.

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So how do they turn field goals into touchdowns on Monday Night? Well, for starters, Trubisky needs to settle down. After the first 15 scripted plays, it appeared as if things were moving a little fast for Mitch.

On the Bears’ second possession, he had the chance to hit Allen Robinson, who ran a terrific route, in the corner of the end zone. Mitch just overthrew him without so much as a hand in his face. In that same series, he locked in on Tarik Cohen who was the primary option on the play and missed a wide-open Trey Burton in the middle of the end zone.

Late in the fourth quarter, he failed to recognize the speedy Cohen being covered by a linebacker coming out of the backfield on a wheel route. Had Mitch worked through his progressions more smoothly, he would have seen Cohen streaking towards the end zone. Instead, it was another miss by Trubisky.

Finally, in the last drive of the game, Trubisky looked to get Cohen the ball on a screen in the flat and sailed the ball well over his head.

A common theme in all those plays is that Mitch seemed rushed. You could almost see his internal clock ticking even though he had much more time than he thought to process the field and make a decision.

Going forward, Trubisky will need to slow down that internal clock and not rush through his progressions. As things tightened up in the Green Bay game, Trubisky dropped his eyes and fled the pocket at the first sign of pressure, rather than keeping his eyes on his receivers downfield.

The hope and expectation are that as he gets more comfortable in Nagy’s offense, things will start to slow down for him. The Bears are hoping that begins Monday night.