Another Chicago Bears’ missed field goal hurts Mitchell Trubisky
By Ryan Fedrau
On Sunday, the Chicago Bears lost 17-16 against the Chargers. Bears’ quarterback Mitchell Trubisky fell victim to another game where he got his team in a position to win and had his kicker miss a game-winning field goal.
The Chicago Bears are on a three-game losing streak, longest losing streak under head coach Matt Nagy. With a 3-4 record and a struggling offense, the Bears’ playoff hopes are in jeopardy.
Sunday, Bears’ quarterback Mitchell Trubisky went 23/35 for 253 yards and one interception. He missed some key throws but when it came down to crunch time, Trubisky got his team in position to win the game. Bears’ kicker Eddy Pineiro, who was 9/10 going into today’s game missed two field goals, one being the game-winner.
When it comes down to it, Trubisky didn’t help himself with his performance. He has had a terrible season, which is just getting worse game-by-game. The lack of a running game throughout the season has really hurt his play. The Trubisky of last year had a great running game, which made him a pro-bowl quarterback.
Sunday, Coach Nagy promised he’d run the ball more. Rookie running back David Montgomery helped boost the offense while carrying the ball 27 times for 135 yards and scoring one touchdown. It’s safe to know that the Bears can run the ball, it’s annoying to know that Coach Nagy has held Montgomery and Mike Davis back all season. Instead, he’s decided to throw the ball 255 times, while only running the ball 163 times this season.
The running game was the only positive to take out of Sunday’s game. Trubisky made some great throws but was far from perfect. The throws that mattered were overthrown or dropped, giving the “anti-Trubisky” fanbase a lot to yell about.
The leading factor that won’t be talked about as a huge problem is Pinerio’s missed field goal. Trubisky has seen this happen many times in his career. The missed field goal in the first half that went off the upright could have been enough to win the game, but that miss came back to haunt Trubisky with four seconds left in the game.
Just like four other times in Trubisky’s career, Pineiro missed a game-winning field goal. That happened after Trubisky got his team into a position to win. In two other games, there were field goals missed that would have made Trubisky’s last drive easier. That’s now seven games affected by missed field goals, five of them were game-winning or game-tying drives. The other two would have made the game less than seven points both times.
Trubisky has been far from perfect, but his kickers haven’t helped him either. Trubisky’s 18-15 career record could be at least 23-10 if he had kickers that would do their job (including playoffs).
Trubisky has been plain out terrible in 2019. I’m his biggest supporter and I’ll say it. His last solid game as a starter was in the playoffs against the Eagles. He has zero confidence with no running game. There are some foot-work problems and offensive line problems that need to be worked on.
The fans should look at the team as a whole. Trubisky doesn’t call the plays, he just runs the plays Coach Nagy calls for the team. He doesn’t kick field goals or play on the offensive line, he’s the quarterback. Trubisky doesn’t do everything. Yes, his play this year has been terrible but he’s not as bad as it looks on the surface.
Next. Bears: How Matt Nagy can help Trubisky. dark
The last-ditch effort for the Bears to make the playoffs this year is to have someone else call the plays on offense. Nagy isn’t the answer as the Bears play-caller. Someone else needs to do it. I don’t care who, they just need to freshen up things.