Bears have to learn to handle prosperity
First, the Chicago Bears and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky had to learn how to handle failure.
Now, owning a 3-1 record after the bye, and leading the NFC North following a huge win, the Bears have to learn to handle success as they face a Miami Dolphins team coached by former Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase.
“It’s a whole new, different feeling, and for those of us who were here last year, especially for myself,” Trubisky said.
Trubisky rocketed from a 77.8 passer rating to 101.6 after throwing for 354 yards and six touchdowns without an interception against Tampa Bay’s struggling secondary. He needed the success after such a slow start.
Now he has to prove he can take steps toward consistent success against a Dolphins pass defense leading the NFL in interceptions.
“When you have a good game, it naturally gives you confidence,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “What you have to make sure you prevent is making sure that you (don’t) get complacent with that and think it’s just going to happen every week because it’s not.”
If there’s one player Nagy doesn’t have to worry about maintaining focus after success, he says it’s Trubisky.
“It definitely gave me confidence,” Trubisky said about the win. “But I think just looking back on it, it was just like any other win for the Bears. It’s important. We got better that week. I felt like I got better that week in my growth and development.
“And this is a new week to continue to take another step and grow and get better.”
Trubisky didn’t let early failures deter his efforts, and Bears tight end Trey Burton doesn’t see why his quarterback would change now because of success.
“It’s really impressive,” Burton said. “It’s one of the hardest things to do is focus on the next play, to not get too high or get too low on a past play.
“He does a great job with that and we all see it.”
Trubisky is extremely unlikely to have players running wide open in the secondary against the Dolphins like in the win over Tampa Bay.
The Tampa Bay defense embarrassed by Trubisky is ranked last in the NFL against the pass. But Miami has 10 interceptions, including three by cornerback Xavien Howard and two by safety Reshad Jones.
“Whether it’s opportunistic or skill or whether it’s a combination of both, they’re around the football,” Nagy said. “And to have 10 interceptions in this league, three by Howard, they’re a good football team, a good defense and they make plays.”
The game plan could change for the Bears from going downfield to avoiding turnovers.
“That defense prides themselves on taking the ball away,” Trubisky said. “You definitely go back and watch those plays and see what happened and what strengths they have on defense and how they put an offense in that position to take the ball away.
“For us, it’s just continue to focus on execution. Me, emphasizing take care of the football or ball carriers take care of the football and just continue to make good decisions and be smart with the football.”
If anyone gets loose, running back Tarik Cohen anticipates less running room than against Tampa Bay.
“They’re very good open-field tacklers,” Cohen said.
The Dolphins were winning 17-0 over Cincinnati last week before losing, their second straight loss.
“They came out pretty strong,” Bears running back Jordan Howard said. “They let Cincinnati back in the game, but they’re a good defense.”
Nagy trusts Trubisky will make the right switch now from taking chances to when to be conservative.
“When you have that mentality that he has and that we’re teaching him, (it’s) you’ve got to know when to pull back and when it’s stupid to just throw the ball deep,” Nagy said. “We have that touchdown-to-checkdown mentality, and so he’s learning how to use that touchdown-to-checkdown mentality. So he has that in him and he’s learning how to do it our way and that’s only going to get better and better in time.”
SERIES HISTORY: 13th regular-season matchup. Dolphins lead series, 8-4. The teams have split the last six games, with the Bears last winning in Miami in 2010, 16-0.
