Three days after a right hip pointer knocked him out of the Bears' loss to the Rams, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky practiced without restrictions on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters before the team worked out, Trubisky said he felt much better than he did Sunday night when even sitting down was painful.
"I feel good," Trubisky said. "A lot better; day and night almost."
If he continues to improve during the week, Trubisky intends to start Sunday when the Bears host the Giants at Soldier Field.
"I'm going to do as much as I can and as much as they allow me to do day-by-day," Trubisky said. "They have a plan in place to where we're not overdoing it but we're getting enough to where I'll have a good idea if I'll be able to play on Sunday and just take it one day at a time.
"I feel pretty confident that whatever they give me, I'm just going to keep taking it, feeling good, keep going and communicating back and forth and keep monitoring it and just making sure there's no setbacks.
"That's the important thing, that we're getting better each day and if it keeps improving by Sunday, I don't see any problems. But the main thing is just not avoiding any setbacks or overdoing it and aggravating it."
Trubisky sustained the injury with :27 left in the first half when he was kneed in his hip by defensive end Michael Brockers while being sacked by cornerback Troy Hill. The third-year quarterback was examined inside the Bears' locker room at halftime and it was determined that he could remain in the game.
Trubisky opened the second half by completing 7 of 9 passes for 66 yards on a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. But his injury worsened, and signs that it was affecting his play soon became evident. Coach Matt Nagy noticed that the quarterback wasn't using his body to step into his throws and not following through on his passes or carrying out fakes in the run game.
"I was trying to move the best I could back there," Trubisky said. "One of the sacks that there was a penalty, it was just like uncharacteristic. I couldn't move around, and it just stiffened up throughout the rest of the game.
"You definitely see those things on film, but you just try to keep pushing through. The scoring drive gave me a lot of confidence that I could make it through the rest of the game and find ways to help my team. It's just unfortunate."
It's been mostly an unfortunate season for Trubisky and the rest of the Bears offense. The team ranks 28th in the NFL in points per game with 16.9 and Trubisky is 26th among 33 qualified quarterbacks with an 82.2 passer rating, having thrown for 1,580 yards with nine touchdowns and four interceptions. But Nagy has seen some of the incremental progress from Trubisky the team has sought.
"The last two weeks he has without a doubt gotten a lot better at the quarterback position," Nagy said. "Decision-making, throws … where he's at the last two weeks has been a lot better."
Nagy cited an example against the Lions two weeks ago when a long pass was called. Trubisky realized it wasn't there and completed a shorter throw to Allen Robinson.
"We had called a shot two games ago to go downtown against Detroit and they took it away," Nagy said. "Well, he went ahead and dropped it down to 12 yards to Allen Robinson for a first down. To me, that's a huge step in the right direction. I'm seeing a lot more of that, which I appreciate and for me that's a huge stepping stone."
Trubisky agrees that he's making strides.
"I feel confident going out there and being able to do my job," he said. "We're still just not clicking on some plays as an offense and I feel like that's holding us back. But each week it's getting a little bit better. It's slowing down.
"I love the game plans we're doing each and every single week. We've just got to make it happen as an offense. I know it sounds really simple—we've just got to score more points. However it is, score more points, make more explosive plays and take care of the football. So it's really not complicated.
I feel like I have been progressing and got to keep doing so. Can't let this thing hold me back in any way. So just continue to stay positive, work through this, go out on the field, play with confidence and let it loose, and just keep finding ways to get better and put points on the board for the offense and take pressure off our defense."
