Mitchell Trubisky finished Sunday's wild-card game with a flourish, but it wasn't enough to prevent a crushing 16-15 loss to the Eagles that ended the Bears' season.
The second-year quarterback helped turn a 10-6 deficit late in the third quarter into a 15-10 lead by engineering back-to-back scoring drives of 62 and 80 yards.
After Trubisky's 45-yard pass to Allen Robinson II set up Cody Parkey's 34-yard field goal early in the fourth period, the Bears quarterback completed 4 of 5 passes for 81 yards including a 22-yard touchdown strike to Robinson with 9:04 remaining.
The Eagles rallied to take a 16-15 lead on Nick Foles' 2-yard TD pass to Golden Tate on fourth-and-goal with :56 to play. But Trubisky put the Bears in position to win late by completing passes to Robinson of 25 and eight yards to the Philadelphia 25. Unfortunately for the Bears, Parkey missed a 43-yard field goal attempt with :05 to play, hitting both the left upright and the crossbar.
Trubisky completed 26 of 43 passes for a Bears post-season-record 303 yards with one touchdown, no turnovers and an 89.6 passer rating. In the fourth quarter alone, he connected on 6 of 10 passes for 115 yards and one TD.
"He's done it all year long; he's made plays when he's had to," said coach Matt Nagy. "Not one person truly knows how far that kid has come this year more than me. We're lucky to have him. I'm looking forward to the future, I really am with him, because the city of Chicago is lucky to have that kid at quarterback."
Stepping up: Robinson broke a Bears postseason receiving record with 143 yards and tied Matt Forte's team mark set in the 2010 NFC title game with 10 receptions.
Willie Gault had owned the record for most yards in a Bears playoff game with 123 in the 1985 team's 46-10 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XX.
"They were playing off zone," Trubisky said, "so we just had to find ways and get creative to get the ball to playmakers and A-Rob did a great job of running his routes and getting open, and I was just trying to put it in a spot for him to make plays. He made a bunch of great catches, and like everything else, it starts up front with our guys giving me time."
On the shelf: Tight end Trey Burton was inactive Sunday against his former team after being added to the injury report late Saturday with a groin injury.
Nagy revealed that Burton woke up Saturday in pain.
"It was like five in the morning and he was getting [to Halas Hall] the same time I was and his groin hurt," Nagy said. "They went through just trying to get everything looked at and see what's going on. They did tests and everything, and that's when we weren't sure what was going to happen, and then we had to last night go ahead and mention it."
Nagy said that not being able to play "absolutely crushed" Burton.
"I just saw him in [the locker room], and he feels bad because he feels like he wasn't there for his guys," Nagy said. "Things happen. I mean, he had a great week of practice all week, and then all of a sudden this. But that's what it is. That's how things go."
Nagy is unsure when Burton sustained the injury.
"I'm not a doctor, but I don't really have an answer for you on that," Nagy said. "He ended up getting up and felt it, and did what he was supposed to do, which is go in and talk to the trainer and try to get it taken care of. That's exactly what we did."
Sitting out: All-Pro safety Eddie Jackson was active, but he did not play due to an ankle injury he sustained Dec. 18 in a win over the Packers.
"We had a spot with Trey's [injury]," Nagy said. "We were in a position where with that spot, if we felt like we wanted to play him, we could play him, and if we felt like we didn't, then we wouldn't."
Deon Bush made his third straight start in place of Jackson, recording three tackles.
News and notes: With the Bears and Texans both losing this weekend, No. 3 seeds are now 17-17 against No. 6 seeds in the playoffs since the NFL realigned into eight four-team divisions in 2002 … Linebacker Roquan Smith and safety Adrian Amos intercepted Foles passes … Leonard Floyd registered the Bears' only sack … The Bears were 12-0 when holding opponents under 24 points this season before Sunday.
