Chicago Bears: Did Mitchell Trubisky put Matt Nagy on blast?

After the Chicago Bears’ season-ending loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky was asked about the Packer’s pass rush.

I’ll let you read the tweet, embedded a bit below. It’s Trubisky’s answer to the follow-up question that started a mini-controversy around the Chicago Bears, thanks to op-ed writers/pundits/analysts who either overreacted or were cynically looking to stir the pot (for the sake of quality journalism, I am hoping for the former).

Mitchell Trubisky’s assessment of the play-calling led to concerns that he isn’t on the same page with head coach Matt Nagy, or maybe he was throwing Nagy under the bus, or maybe there was even a feud.

Good grief.

Personally, I didn’t read the tweet, embedded after this paragraph, that way (I haven’t seen the video and I’m not sure if I’ve heard the audio, I caught some audio of Trubisky’s presser but wasn’t paying close attention). I took it as a QB trying to answer a question as honestly as he could, without thinking through the possible ramifications of how listeners might interpret that answer.

Happens all the time in sports, and public life – media pundits and even observers watching TV sometimes read too much into comments, which is one reason athletes and coaches either rely on clichés or work extra hard to be clear with their comments. This is perhaps why New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick says so little.

Hub Arkush didn’t take it as a bus-toss, either. Neither did Nagy, it appears.

Even if Trubisky didn’t like the play-calling or would’ve preferred the Bears tried a different approach, that doesn’t mean he’s feuding with his head coach. It simply means he thought that perhaps a different approach from the coach might have given the team a better chance to win.

Trubisky was just being honest – he felt perhaps moving the pocket more would’ve helped the Bears mitigate a tough pass rough. That’s all. I doubt he meant to bus-toss his coach.

Again, either certain writers overreacted, or they were a bit intellectually dishonest in order to create a discussion out of thin air. Also, again, I hope it’s not the latter – while cynically creating false outrage out off of a thin quote isn’t necessarily against journalist ethics, it’s a bit scummy and it’s the kind of thing that makes readers distrust an already beleaguered media.

Discussions of journalistic impropriety aside, I’m not worried that Mitch and Matt aren’t on the same page. I bet they have specific disagreements on how best to run the offense, but are more or less on the same page. And if Nagy thinks Mitch is the wrong QB for his system, or simply not a good enough quarterback to start in the NFL, he’s going to keep that to himself until the Bears and Mitch part ways.

This is what happens when a team with Super Bowl expectations falls short, and loses twice to its rival, with the second loss helping to knock the team out of playoff contention (technically, the Bears were still in the hunt until Minnesota won, later in the day). It’s also what happens when the QB’s play and the coach’s play-calling have been criticized all season. Outside observers look for any sign that the team may be cracking under the weight of failed expectations, and innocuous comments fuel imaginary fires.

There’s a lot to address when it comes to the Bears, and the offense, as the offseason looms. And Trubisky’s play and Nagy’s play-calling have been worthy of fair criticism plenty of times this year. Both will be among those items that need addressing.

That there’s room for improvement from both men doesn’t mean that there’s a feud at Halas Hall. The Bears have a lot of problems, but a feud ain’t one.