Bears insist hip injury, not performance, is why Mitchell Trubisky was pulled

In the fourth quarter, with the Chicago Bears offense looking as helpless as it has in this stunningly disappointing season, Matt Nagy got close to Mitchell Trubisky and started talking in his ear.

Nagy said he was imploring Trubisky to tell him how injured he was. After that talk, Trubisky was out of the game.

The Bears said that Trubisky came out of Sunday night’s game with a hip injury. Bears coach Matt Nagy said that injury is the only reason Trubisky was removed after the Rams took a 17-7 lead with a few minutes left in the game. Chase Daniel came in for Trubisky. Nagy said Trubisky, who struggled again on Sunday night, landed on his hip early in the game and didn’t look right.

Trubisky had a slight limp as he walked off the field after the game. No training staff personnel from the Bears was looking at him when Daniel went into the game. Usually when any player has an injury he’ll have a trainer or three around him, and that’s especially true for a quarterback. Nagy confirmed Trubisky never went to the medical tent to get looked at. If Trubisky’s injury was bad enough he couldn’t play, it is very unusual that he never got looked at by the training staff.

“I had to pull him aside and talk to him and ask him and say we needed him to be honest with us,” Nagy said. “Trying to play through that is what he was doing.”

Whether it was completely related to an injury or not, nobody was all too surprised to see Daniel in the game. Trubisky wasn’t good on Sunday night, and that has been the pattern all season.

Mitchell Trubisky struggles again

Trubisky was 24-of-43 for 190 yards. You’re not lasting long in the NFL averaging less than 5 yards per attempt. He couldn’t get anything going, the Bears offense got just one touchdown in the 17-7 loss, and Trubisky’s nightmare season continued.

Last season there were some good moments. Trubisky made a Pro Bowl, and whatever you want to think about making it as an injury replacement like Trubisky did, he was a lot better last season. There were moments of promise. He was inconsistent, but he was also a second-year quarterback who didn’t have much college experience.

This year, the bottom has fallen out. Trubisky’s step back has been so massive, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if the second pick of the 2017 draft isn’t the Bears’ starter in 2020. That might depend on what options they have, or if they can see any signs that Trubisky can turn his career around. Perhaps, if we believe the Bears, Trubisky’s health might also be a factor.

Matt Nagy explains his decision

Nagy said Trubisky played through the injury for “one or two series.” Nagy said he could tell when Trubisky tried to throw left that his hip was affecting him. He said he asked Trubisky to tell him how his hip was feeling and apparently Trubisky said it was bad.

“It was hard for him to say that, it was really hard,” Nagy said. “But he told me exactly how he felt and I made the decision to put Chase in there at that time.”

Nagy said the score didn’t matter, that he would have made the same decision to pull Trubisky even if the game was closer.

This will be an interesting week in Chicago. Perhaps we’ll learn that Trubisky’s injury is significant and he’ll miss time. There will be questions about Trubisky’s play and whether he deserves to start even if healthy. The Bears are 4-6 and their season is quickly slipping away.

Whether Trubisky finishes the season as the starter, whether that’s related to injury or not, is the biggest story left for the Bears.

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab

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