Chicago Bears: Mitchell Trubisky bounces back in win over Washington

The Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins on Monday night. Did Mitchell Trubisky and the offense do enough in the win over Washington?

This was an important win. The Chicago Bears are now 2-1 on the season and currently find themselves last in the NFC North. The team sees the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday and winning that game will be just as important. Let us not get ahead of ourselves though. We need to break down this win against Washington first.

Before we take a look at the offense, let us dive into the defense. This team went from 27th overall in turnovers to 6th overall after this one game. With three interceptions and two fumbles, the Bears defense was dominant against Washington. It seemed like Khalil Mack was in Case Keenum‘s face every play in the first half.

The team also ended up with four sacks on the night. The pressure obviously led to the interceptions by Keenum too. What is also exciting was to see new addition Ha Ha Clinton-Dix pick off two passes and take one to the house. This defense has been fantastic all season and they did not disappoint on Monday night.

Akiem Hicks leaving with a knee injury had to be the biggest downside on defense. Hopefully, he has not aggravated his previous knee injury too seriously. I was also frustrated seeing the corners play so far back off the ball late in the game. The defense was letting up big chunks of yardage that led to two scores. As good as the defense was, they actually could have been better.

Now, the questions have always been about the Bears offense. The team has only scored one touchdown on offense prior to this game. Going up against a weak Washington defense meant this team needed to show up offensively and they did not disappoint.

Mitchell Trubisky continued his ability to look great against bad defenses. He was 25 of 31 passing for 231 yards. He threw three passing touchdowns all to Taylor Gabriel and one really bad interception in the red zone. He finished with an 80.6 percent completion percentage and a 116.5 quarterback rating. Hard to call him inaccurate with that completion percentage.

The pass he threw to Allen Robinson that led to an interception is a pass I know he wants back. That pass should have been a fade to the deep corner and would have been an easy touchdown for Allen Robinson over Josh Norman. In his press conference, he told reporters there was a miscommunication. He was thinking back shoulder but Robinson beat Norman up top. Might have been some contact on the play too that was not called, but either way, it was a bad pass.

Early in the game, Trubisky missed a few passes that I thought he should have made too. Overall though, this team showed up in a bigger way than the first two games. I know that Washington is bad, but the Bears looked to have shaken some rust off.

The offensive line was without Bobby Massie and struggled at times. They especially struggled to get a push in the run game early. That said, they opened things up better late and David Montgomery showed his excellent vision once again. This kid is ready to break out and I cannot wait for them to put it all together. He might need more than 13 carries, but Matt Nagy clearly wanted to help build up Trubisky’s and the wide receivers’ confidence.

Taylor Gabriel and Allen Robinson had great games. Gabriel was a fantasy owners’ dream with three touchdowns. Luckily I benched him in the only league I own him. Trey Burton looked decent at first glance and Adam Shaheen too with his limited opportunities. Anthony Miller looks frustrated and has been playing poorly compared to how I know he can play. His crossing route for 15 yards is what I want to see more of for him.

As great as the team did, there is still room for improvement. Trubisky did enough to keep his detractors somewhat quiet, but he also left some plays out on the field that should feed his trolls. What we can take from this is that the team should be just as good as last season.

They are a playoff-caliber team playing in a very tough division. They need to keep Club Dub open and hope the other teams in the NFC North start to falter. Taking a win over the Vikings next week should definitely help, but let us first take a moment to enjoy the 31-15 beating over Washington.