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Mitchell Trubisky wants to fight fire with fire Sunday afternoon against the New Orleans Saints.
Heading into the postseason game, the Chicago Bears quarterback said the offense needed to rack up points against a great defense to put pressure on the Saints.
“I think we really need to open it up a bit,” Trubisky said, via the Chicago Sun-Times. “In terms of staying aggressive, I like to go fourth. It’s just a state of mind, but I think, more importantly, we need to score more touchdowns in the red zone …
“Our special teams unit is doing an amazing job, and we have to keep going. But we have to help our team and put our defense in better positions by finishing with touchdowns. It makes you a better offense and a better team, so I thinks that’s the main improvement we want to see this week. “
In the Week 17 loss to Green Bay, the Bears converted five of six fourth-hit attempts as they backed up long practices that consumed time and kept Aaron Rodgers on the sidelines. Yet Chicago has repeatedly stalled in the red zone (1/5), leading to a resounding defeat.
Over the past few weeks, Matt Nagy has handled Trubisky with care – much like we’ve seen Sean McVay’s play appeal with Jared Goff or Kyle Shanahan with Jimmy Garoppolo – giving the QB quick reads, mostly short throws, putting him in motion, and playing dink-and-dunk instead of the home-run ball. Getting the ball out faster decreases the tight window shots for the QB.
Trubisky in weeks 1 to 3: 2.9 Casting time; 10.2 aerial yards per attempt; 2.6 average separation of targets; 22.6 pressure rate.
Trubisky in weeks 12 to 17: 2.56 Casting time; 7.0 aerial yards per attempt; 3.4 average target spacing; 14.0 pressure rate.
Nagy called the game-action for Trubisky at a 35.2% rate, the highest in the NFL, according to Next Generation stats. Expect it to continue on Sunday. The Saints have allowed 11 touchdowns on play-action passes this season (T-6th most in the NFL) and are rating 100.6 passers with him against 77.8 without play-action.
In the Bears’ meeting against the Saints earlier this season, with Nick Foles at the helm, Chicago took a few shots, with 10 of 41 attempts generating over 10 yards from the air – including 3 of 4 over 20 yards, par NGS.
While Trubisky may want Nagy to call for more shots on Sunday, the coach will have to choose his places – and they should almost certainly leave the action-game. Trubisky has the lowest completion percentage (32.4%) and averages the fewest yards per attempt (3.1) under pressure in 2020. The Saints are pressuring the opposing quarterback on 31.2% of dropouts (second-highest in the NFL) and allowed second- lowest completion percentage (39.2) and passer rating (51.1) in quarterbacks under pressure this season.
Trubisky believes the underdog Bears has nothing to fear against NFC South Champs on Sunday.
“We have nothing to lose,” Trubisky said on the team’s official website. “We know everyone is neglecting us. They have the second half of the season. I think we just played with that advantage, that chip on our shoulder. We have nothing to lose. We should go out there and play. free.”
The Bears-Saints wild card game starts Sunday at 4:40 p.m. ET and can be watched on CBS, Nickelodeon, Amazon Prime Video, CBS All Access.
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