Chicago’s Playoff Hopes All But Dead as Mitchell Trubisky Gets Benched

Chicago's Playoff Hopes All But Dead as Mitch Trubisky Gets Benched
Mitchell Trubisky of the Bears looks to pass against LA. (Meg Oliphant/Getty)
Getty Images

With their 17-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night, the Chicago Bears dropped to 4-6 on the season and now sit in 10th place overall in the NFC.

As only the top six teams in the conference will make the playoffs and the team in the sixth spot, the Minnesota Vikings, has a record of 8-3, the Bears are pretty much dead in the water when it comes to making the postseason.

Even worse for Chicago, head coach Matt Nagy felt it was necessary to bench starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky in the closing moments of Sunday night’s game and replace him with backup Chase Daniel. 

The good news for Trubisky is that Daniel flopped, leading a drive which lasted seven plays, went six yards and ended with a turnover on downs.

While Nagy said afterward that he made the decision because a right hip injury Trubisky suffered in the first half was starting to affect his throws, it’s fair to wonder if the decision was made based on the third-year quarterback’s play. 

“They made a call that they felt was best for the team,” Trubisky said afterward. “You’ve got to support that, and you’ve just got to be 100 percent to be out there with your team and I just couldn’t do that.”

Chicago’s offense was sluggish throughout the game as Trubisky completed 24-of-43 passes for 190 yards, one touchdown and one interception. To be fair, the Rams do have a good defense and LA came to play, but Trubisky needed to be better.

His kicker, Eddy Pineiro, also must be better as he’s hit just three of seven field goals over his last four games and missed a pair of kicks yesterday. Despite that, Nagy said the team will not be changing kickers — yet. “You want to be able to make those kicks,” he said after Sunday night’s loss in LA. “Eddy knows he’s got to make those.” 

Chicago takes on the New York Giants on Sunday.

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