Chicago Bears: Nick Foles’ greatest strengths on display against Falcons

The Chicago Bears backup quarterback impressed on Sunday.

The Chicago Bears capped off another incredible comeback on Sunday thanks, in large part, to the play of Nick Foles. In just under two quarters of play, Foles displayed many of his strengths and the reasons Ryan Pace brought him to Chicago.

It was an impressive performance to be certain. Foles entered the game on the Bears’ second offensive series of the second half, following a Mitchell Trubisky interception where it appears he failed to recognize zone coverage disguised pre-snap as man coverage.

Without taking a single snap all year, following a training camp with no preseason games, Foles came out firing. Facing a 26-10 deficit, Foles threw a beautiful 21-yard pass to Allen Robinson which was ruled a touchdown on the field, but inexplicably overturned on review. His third possession also resulted in a touchdown on the field, but later overturned when it was ruled that Anthony Miller didn’t have possession.

Despite his first two “touchdowns” being wiped off the board, (he should have had five TDs in one half) Foles led the team back with three fourth-quarter touchdowns to defeat the Falcons 30-26. In doing so, he displayed so many of the characteristics that made him an attractive option for this offense.

This is not mean to pile on Mitch, but it’s impossible to discuss Foles’ strengths without implicating Trubisky’s weaknesses. However, late in the fourth quarter, while still trailing by three points, Foles was seen on the sidelines coaching up the offense. It appeared he was going over a recent play possibly highlighting something he saw that could be exploited on a future series. It is something that comes with having a command of the offense, as well as defensive coverages.

Speaking of which, Foles’ understanding of defenses was on full display as well. We saw him checking out of plays at the line of scrimmage and directing the offense in a way we haven’t seen under Trubisky. Doing so allowed him to take advantage of the plays to be made that Trubisky often left on the field. Just read what tight end Jimmy Graham had to say about Foles after the game:

He called Foles’ processing “special,” even being surprised at one time that he saw a change that he made — THAT’S how good he is at processing information. So while he will never be the athlete Trubisky is, he more than compensates with his intelligence.

Another stark example of this particular strength was the eventual game-winner to Anthony Miller. It was the same exact play on which Trubisky overshot a wide-open Miller earlier in the game, despite getting great protection. Foles, however, connected on the game-winner as he was getting hit. So how did he do it? Check out his comments to Miller in the huddle:

Essentially he told Miller that if he had to “kill” the initial play — based on what he saw pre-snap — that he would throw the ball to the “L” in the Falcons logo in the end zone. And that’s precisely what he did.

He knew he potentially wouldn’t have time in the pocket and set his team up for that contingency. It’s the kind of processing Matt Nagy has wanted to see from Trubisky for years, but now has with Foles.