–From one pass rusher to another, Khalil Mack thought Clay Matthews got robbed on the controversial penalty preventing Green Bay from winning its game Sunday with Minnesota.
“Those things are unfortunate, know what I’m saying?” Mack said. “You play this game at a high level and then, Clay, I know he plays it at a high level and he just wants to make that play for his team. But even then, you just gotta be smart in certain situations.
“But that play in particular is one that I feel the refs need to take a look at.”
Mack didn’t think Matthews landed with all his weight on quarterback Kirk Cousins.
“I feel like he did everything he could to make the right play — kept his head out of the way — but I feel like that was a perfect form tackle,” Mack said.
–Linebacker Danny Trevathan won NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors after his two sacks and eight tackles against Seattle. It earned the Bears’ veteran defensive field general a lot of razzing from teammates, and he began laughing about it before talking to reporters.
“It just goes to show that we have that family mentality here and guys make jokes about it, but we’re all trying to be that, we’re all trying to be that person out there,” Trevathan said. “Like I said, (the award) could happen to anyone: Prince (Amukamara), Akiem (Hicks), Khalil (Mack), those guys played their tails off, so I’m just happy it was me. And I’m just going to keep the guys ready.”
Some perceived the drafting of rookie linebacker Roquan Smith in the first round as a possible exit for Trevathan, but it looks like anything but this.
“He’s come out with such high energy, enthusiasm, he’s flying around, shooting the gaps, he’s just bringing that leadership that we expected from when we got here in training camp,” coach Matt Nagy said. “And so he’s followed through with that. I think the guys feed off that, they feel that, they understand what it takes. It’s not just every other play, it’s every play, and that’s what he’s done.”
–After the season opener, head coach Matt Nagy was critical of a few of his own play calls. He found improvement in his own choices in the second game.
“I felt better. I did,” he said. “So I think everyone’s talking about Mitch (Trubisky) right now and him growing in the offense, and so there’s also the other side of it with me being the play caller, when you can get into a rhythm, whether it’s with Kansas City with the offense we had there with coach (Andy) Reid with him getting in a rhythm or with myself when I started calling plays.
“We’re going to have different plays that fit our offense. So I’m learning that too and there might be some plays that were bread and butter in Kansas City that aren’t bread and butter here. And that’s OK. So I’m learning that. And once I start, myself, figuring that out, and then the quarterback starts figuring that out and the players around him, the wide receivers, and we start molding it together like a piece of clay, then it’ll start coming to fruition.”
–Although quarterback Mitchell Trubisky had two interceptions and several overthrows, his passing effort in the win over Seattle went largely overlooked — particularly in the second half. He hit 12 of 14 then.
“Yeah, just getting the ball out quick, playing within myself and in this offense and just doing my job and it definitely helps when we get the run game going and we don’t fall in a lot of third downs in general,” Trubisky said. “We had one (TD) drive where we had no third downs at all and we were just moving the ball right down the field, and then when you stay out of that (third-and-long).”
One of the passes Trubisky missed on against the Seahawks was a wide-open Taylor Gabriel and likely would have resulted in a touchdown.
Trubisky called it a mechanical error.
“I think I just got too little excited and didn’t trust my timing, so the ball came out a little sooner than it should have been if I had just staying on my timing with my footwork,” Trubisky said. “It kind of happened a little bit on the first interception, as well. Just rushing my throws a little or doing a little too much with my eyes, but that happens when you have great players on the other side of the ball, that you just don’t want them to get a key on where you’re going with it.”
Nagy said Trubisky’s understanding of situations and the offense is improving. Trubisky actually called a few audibles after reading potential disaster going against a particular defensive formation. Nagy has no reservations about letting a young quarterback make changes.
“We give him the keys to the car, is what we say,” Nagy said. “We give him the keys to the car and he’s able to make some choices with that through game study and film study. That was growth to see him do that last week.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 5 — Number of consecutive games Jordan Howard has been held below 100 yards. He had only one game with more than 44 yards in that stretch.
