LANDOVER, Md. — The Washington Redskins proved the perfect remedy for struggling Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
After coming under intense scrutiny for not throwing a touchdown pass in either of Chicago’s first two games, Trubisky passed for three touchdowns, all of them to wide receiver Taylor Gabriel, before halftime in Monday night’s 31-15 win against Washington.
Trubisky finished the first half 20 of 23 for 173 yards and three touchdowns (137.6 quarterback rating), the most completions in a first half in the young quarterback’s career. He finished the game 25 of 31 for 231 yards, with his lone blemish coming as an interception to Josh Norman at the Washington six-yard line late in the 3rd quarter.
Gabriel became the first Bears receiver to have three receiving touchdowns in a game since Brandon Marshall in 2014.
Trubisky’s first two touchdowns to Gabriel both occurred inside the five-yard line, but the 25-year old quarterback’s third touchdown toss was arguably his best play of the year to date.
On third-and-seventeen from the Redskins’ 36-yard line, Washington’s pass-rush forced Trubisky to move up in the pocket and slide to the left. On the move, Trubisky fired a pass downfield to Gabriel near the front, right corner of the end zone. Gabriel was initially ruled out of bounds, but the replay clearly showed the veteran receiver got both feet in bounds and the call was reversed.
The Bears desperately needed Trubisky — drafted second overall in 2017 — to have a good showing at FedEx Field after he sputtered through the first two weeks of the regular season.
Through two games in 2019, Trubisky’s completion percentage (58.3), passing yards (348), touchdowns (zero), Total QBR (27.5), yards per attempt (4.8) and number of attempts that traveled 10-plus yards in the air (16) are substantially worse when compared to his play in the opening two games of the 2018 season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
The Bears faced third-and-7 or worse on 16 of 26 conversion attempts (62%) against Green Bay and Denver. Last year, the Bears needed seven or more yards on just 43% of their third-down plays.
Chicago converted 6 of 8 third-down attempts in the opening 30 minutes versus the Redskins.
Washington entered Week 3 with the second-worst passing defense by total QBR.