Chicago Bears: Why the Chiefs loss was necessary to move forward

The Chicago Bears loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was disappointing but necessary.

If you turned off the Chicago Bears game at halftime last night, no one would blame you. Their performance was awful, embarrassing, and sloppy. It was a microcosm of the Bear season and epitomized the reasons why they will be at home this January watching the playoffs instead of playing in them.

However, it was also necessary.

You see, Mitchell Trubisky‘s career calling card has been his inconsistency. At times, he has displayed the traits commensurate with a No. 2 overall pick. He has the ability to make plays that leave you in awe, and ready to jump aboard the bandwagon. But then, he immediately follows it up with, for example, a 3-yard overthrow to a wide-open Allen Robinson. And the problem for Mitch is that the latter happens far more frequently than the former.

Yet he had been on a little bit of a run recently, having his best games of the season against the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. He also played decently against the New York Giants, and while he left a lot to be desired in the Green Bay Packers game, he wasn’t a total disaster.

All in all, the arrow looked to be pointing up, if ever so slightly. Had it continued in that direction, Ryan Pace might have been fooled into thinking Mitch is the answer in 2020 and beyond. However, last night’s game should have put the final nail in the coffin of that pipedream.

Now fans will rail against the playcalling, or the lack of run game, or maybe even the dearth of talent at the tight end position. And those are all valid criticisms of the team this season. However, Mitch’s biggest issues are independent of those issues.

In other words, those problems didn’t cause Mitch to overthrow Robinson. They don’t force him to take the wrong drop on some of his passes. They’re not the reason he fails to identify pre-snap coverages or go through his post-snap progressions. Trotting out Jesper Horsted instead of Travis Kelce isn’t why he inexplicably runs out of bounds for five-yard losses, instead of throwing the ball away.

And all of those flaws were on display last night for all of America to see. The hope is that Ryan Pace was watching too, instead of burying his head in the sand. We’ll find out if and when Pace brings some competition to the quarterback room.