After watching tape of Sunday's 20-13 win over the Lions, Bears coach Matt Nagy on Monday discussed Mitchell Trubisky's performance, Danny Trevathan's elbow injury and more.
• Trubisky threw touchdown passes on three consecutive possessions in the second and third quarters to stake the Bears to a 20-6 lead. The offense's other nine drives in the game all resulted in punts, including seven three-and-outs. But Nagy felt that Trubisky played well throughout the contest, not just on the three scoring drives.
"When you go back and watch it, it was actually all four quarters," Nagy said. "We had some mistakes on offense that weren't him. He missed one guy on a route. He missed that. He didn't throw it to him. He had two throws that he probably would want back, but none of them are critical, and he made a bunch of really good throws."
Trubisky completed 16 of 23 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns, no turnovers and a 131.0 passer rating that was the third highest of his career and the third highest by an NFL quarterback in Week 10.
Nagy felt that Trubisky's best throw was a 33-yard completion to Allen Robinson, who reached high to snare the ball and beat tight coverage by Lions cornerback Darius Slay on the second play of the second half. Trubisky delivered the pass an instant before getting hit.
"Not a lot of guys make that throw," Nagy said. "He stood in there and made that throw, and A-Rob made a hell of a catch."
• Nagy acknowledged that putting Trevathan on injured reserve is a possibility after the veteran linebacker sustained a gruesome elbow injury late in the first quarter. "It could be," said the Bears coach. "We'll see how that goes moving forward. We'll know more here in the next couple of days."
Trevathan's arm bent awkwardly when Lions quarterback Jeff Driskel landed on it after rolling to his right and completing a short pass. "It's not real pretty, but it's a part of this game," Nagy said. "You hate to see that."
Trevathan entered Week 10 leading the Bears with 67 tackles while also recording one sack, two tackles-for-loss and one forced fumble.
The good news for the defense is that Trevathan's replacement, Nick Kwiatkoski, performed exceptionally well when called upon Sunday. The fourth-year pro registered nine tackles, his first career interception, one sack and one tackle-for-loss.
"When you lose a guy like Danny in the middle, that leadership part, you lose a little bit," Nagy said. "But then you have 'Kwit' come in and do such a great job. He was all over the field yesterday. That was really neat to see."
If Trevathan joins defensive tackle Akiem Hicks on injured reserve, the Bears defense would be without two of its best players and veteran leaders.
"They're two of the more vocal guys on that side of the ball," Nagy said. "They're very similar on the field leadership-wise."
• Nagy was pleased with how the decision to flipflop Cody Whitehair and James Daniels back to the positions they played last season—center and left guard, respectively—worked out Sunday.
"A lot of it comes down to some experience, some communication, that sort of thing," Nagy said. "I'd say that's probably the biggest thing."
Having an experienced veteran like Whitehair, who hasn't missed a game in four seasons with the Bears, between a second-year pro in Daniels and inexperienced right guard Rashaad Coward is beneficial.
"That's probably a good way to look at it," Nagy said. "I think you have a balance experience-wise. You're dealing with [Charles] Leno on the left [at tackle], Cody, James and Rashaad. That was one of the things that we looked at with that switch. I think you kind of balance it out a little bit."
Whitehair delivered four low shotgun snaps Sunday, but Nagy is confident that the veteran will correct those issues like he did last season.
"We've been through that before and Cody's done a great job of pulling through that," Nagy said. "We just know that making that switch, for a lot of different reasons, is more beneficial. And we have ways we can protect some of the snaps."
Nagy stressed that the move was not an indication that Daniels has not performed well. "We were very honest and open with him and he handled it great," Nagy said. "He really did. We told him, 'This is a team thing. This isn't an individual thing. We love your trajectory. We love the way you're playing. There's more to it.' And he completely understood. He was great."
