There isn’t anything eye-popping about the numbers Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky compiled during Sunday’s 27-24 overtime win against the Ravens, but that isn’t how the Bears are defining the rookie’s performance at this point.
They saw growth from Trubisky over his first start in terms of knowing when not to take risks that could come back to haunt them. Trubisky threw a late interception against the Vikings that helped send the Bears to a defeat, but threw similar balls away against the Ravens and earned praise from coach John Fox for corralling a bad snap in the end zone in time to escape trouble.
“Those are really good decisions,” Fox said, via the Chicago Tribune. "[Six throwaways] beats six interceptions, for sure. ... If you look at the snap over his head in the end zone, all right, there’s probably only five or six or seven quarterbacks in this league that could get out of that. I think Mitch played outstanding. Did he throw the ball 45 times? No. To me that doesn’t define outstanding.”
When the Bears are running and playing defense they way they did against Baltimore, there’s no reason to ask Trubisky to put the ball in the air that often or to take any big risks when he does. Special teams breakdowns kept the Ravens in the game, which isn’t ideal but it’s a step up from watching the quarterback’s turnovers do the same thing in the first four weeks of the season.