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If every game in the foreseeable future is a "test" for Mitch Trubisky, Sunday's trip to Miami has two parts.
The first is more of a narrow test, specific to the game. The Miami Dolphins lead the NFL with 10 steals. Cornerback Xavien Howard is one of five players in the league with three interceptions. And even though the career interception rate of 2.2% of Trubisky's career may seem low, he ranks only 15th out of 22 defensemen with at least 16 starts since the beginning of 2017.
At the same time, the Dolphins won 5.5% of their opponents' passes, the second best Bears rate (5.8%).
"Whether it's an opportunity or a skill or a combination of the two, they play around football," said coach Matt Nagy. . "And to have 10 interceptions in this league, three by Howard, they are a good football team, a good defense and they make games so you have to let your guys know."
Beyond interceptions, this defense of Miami could be the best that the Bears have faced to date. The outsiders of football, DVOA, are ranked fifth, ahead of the other opponents of the top 10 Bears in Arizona (No. 8) and Seattle (No. 9). Tampa Bay, the Trubisky team burned at the end of September, ranks 32nd.
But the Dolphins grant 5.7 yards per game and a 44.4 third-place finish percentage, from mediocre totals to bad, supported by the team's propensity to take the ball. So Trubisky could actually move the ball to Hard Rock Stadium, but he will have to make sure that the opportunistic defense of the Dolphins will not take the ball away at the decisive moment.
"You certainly come back to see these plays and see what happened and what are the strengths of the defense and how they offended the ball to remove the ball," Trubisky said. "For us, we just keep focusing on execution. I, with a focus on football care, where the ball carriers take care of football and continue to make good decisions and be smart with football. But we know they are a talented defense. We have a lot of respect for them and how they managed to remove the ball. It is therefore throughout the week that we insist on the fact that we must have 100% safety and that this will continue to give us a chance in every game. "
Respond to success
It's a bigger picture of how Trubisky approaches his first game after turning on the Buccaneers for six touchdowns and 354 yards in the fourth week. On the one hand, Trubisky probably needed a match like that for his self-confidence, but that does not necessarily mean it. means that it was the beginning of something special.
"When you play well, it naturally gives you confidence," said Nagy. "What you need to make sure to prevent is to make sure you are not complacent and think it will happen every week because it is not."
It may seem a little strange to preach by avoiding the complacency of a quarter with 16 unequal starts in his career in the NFL, but maybe the week off has something to do with it. Nagy gave his players all of last week, giving them the opportunity to take a break after a long training camp and the first quarter of the season.
Trubisky spent his week off with his family and saw his younger brother, Mason – wide receiver for Mentor High School – win the title of king of the homecoming.
"It's a bit hard to be a week, especially after the great week I had," said Trubisky. "You can not wait to get home, go back to work, go to the movie theater and see what we have in this week's game plan. It was also a great opportunity to rest, unwind a little and take care of one's body. I have the impression of having balanced the two a little bit. "
Complacency does not seem to be part of Trubisky's DNA of football, however, if we rely on the fact that so many teammates extol the merits of their balanced attitude. Although the Tampa Bay match was a total success, it is only a match in Trubisky's extended development on the Nagy Offensive.
And this process is something Trubisky has a solid understanding of.
"It's part of the process, be comfortable with this offense, know your job, know exactly how to do it, just react, play football without thinking about it," Trubisky said. "So we are in the process of understanding it, and in the last few months, no matter where we are, we have started to click a bit and we need to continue on that path."
The big news
Trubisky had the best game of his career with a right-handed round against Tampa Bay. The round came because he injured his arm a few weeks ago and reopened in the Bears' Week 3 win over the Arizona Cardinals. So, rather than "springing from everywhere", as Trubisky said, it was in Arizona, he went with the sleeve to cover the wound.
"And then, you play pretty well, a superstition, call it what you want," Trubisky said. "I've also had a lot of threats that I had to wear, so … Yeah, I'll continue to do it."
Trubisky is still a long way from becoming the NFL's Wendell Turk, but hey, no matter what works.
"It's comfortable, it gives me a little more loot or whatever," Trubisky said. "Get out of there and do what you want with the sleeve. Then we'll see.
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