Was he benched or injured? Or benched in part because he was injured? Those are the questions many are wondering about Mitch Trubisky on Sunday night.
Trubisky was replaced by Chase Daniel with over three minutes left in the Chicago Bears’ 17-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. The way the quarterback switch happened — Trubisky stood in the sidelines with a hat on and was not examined by doctors — led the NBC announcers to speculate he had been benched. The Bears said that Trubisky had a hip injury.
After the game, both Trubisky and Nagy spoke about the matter. Trubisky admitted his hip began bothering him late in the second quarter, tightened, and prevented him from playing the way he wanted.
QB Mitch Trubisky: The hip discomfort began late in the second quarter. The tightness worsened and prevented him from playing the way he wanted. #Bears pic.twitter.com/I9nf6BgvYc
— Rich Campbell (@Rich_Campbell) November 18, 2019
Nagy said he asked for Trubisky to be honest about his hip and the quarterback finally was, leading to the change.
Bears HC Matt Nagy said he pulled QB Mitch Trubisky from the game because of hip discomfort he had been playing through for a few series. He indicated he pleaded with Mitch for honesty about his hip, and Trubisky conceded. pic.twitter.com/Iu0WAqxZL5
— Rich Campbell (@Rich_Campbell) November 18, 2019
Here’s how Trubisky was walking after the game:
Mitch Trubisky leaving the field postgame. pic.twitter.com/FvvEBu5OKw
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) November 18, 2019
Critics often skewer coaches for leaving players in games if they’re already hurt, only to get further injured. In that sense, replacing Trubisky was prudent. In another, starting quarterbacks play through injuries all the time, and it seems like Trubisky was benched for not getting the job done. Making that change so late in a game they were likely to lose anyway was clumsy and has invited plenty of possibly unneeded criticism for an already struggling team.
