In the past two games, the Chicago Bears have scored 30 points, what has helped Mitch Trubisky succeed?
Yes, playing the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans defense is going to help every offense. Still, it is worth noting that in games where Mitch Trubisky started and finished, the Chicago Bears came into the last month with just five 30 point performances. So, with five 30 point games in his first 33 tries, it is worth noting that the Chicago Bears have put that up in two of the last three games, regardless of opponent.
When digging into the success of Mitch Trubisky in this span, it looks like the Bears have reeled him a bit, and made him more conservative as a passer.
In his career, he averages 8.3 air yards per pass attempt. However, against Detroit, that number was just 6.2 and against Houston, it was 4.4. Sunday was the lowest air yards per attempt of his career, while the week before his sixth-lowest rate. One note that is interesting is that Trubisky is 5-0 in games where he averages less than 6.2 air yards per attempt and could have been 6-0 at 6.3 or lower had the Bears not blown the lead to the Lions.
To further the point, Trubisky averages 2.62 seconds until his attempt before he was benched. That number is high even for Trubisky who was at 2.48 in 2019, and 2.5 in 2018, according to PFF. However, after being benched, his time to throw his lower than ever at 2.32 over the past three weeks.
Trubisky is being more decisive and getting the football out of his hands quickly. While Bill Lazor is calling the plays, at its core, a Matt Nagy is a quick striking attack that gets the ball in skill players’ hands. Trubisky is finally playing within that fast type of offense, and we are seeing the dividends.
Again, we have seen him struggle against bad defenses before. With that in mind, along with the stark differences in air yards and time to throw, there is something to put stock into.
The Minnesota Vikings have always played Mitch Trubisky well, but beyond that, Matt Nagy has always played the Vikings well too. Nagy swept the Vikings in his first two seasons but is 0-1 this year. A win with Trubisky could be highlighted by three straight games of quick passes.