3 things we learned in Week 3 win

[Staley Da Bear]

(2) Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears offense had their best game of the young season, producing three touchdowns—all on passes to Taylor Gabriel.


Trubisky had the breakout performance many were hoping for, completing 25 of 31 passes for 231 yards and a 116.5 passer rating. Two of his incompletions easily could have been caught, and the only notable mistake he committed came on an underthrown pass intended for Allen Robinson II that was intercepted by Josh Norman.


“I really like how he went into this week and he handled the week of practice,” Nagy said. “It transferred over to the game. In the game, he was just ‘steady Eddie’ the whole way. I mean, he was very smooth. He never got rattled, even after the red-zone pick. He came off and knew that he can’t do that. But he didn’t let it affect his game, and that’s where I think he’s growing.”


Although Trubisky continued to throw mostly short passes, his most impressive pass of the game resulted in a 36-yard touchdown to Taylor Gabriel. Trubisky sidestepped pressure in the pocket, stepped up and heaved the ball to Gabriel, who made a sensational catch while deftly getting both of his feet inbounds.


According to NextGen Stats, the pass had a completion probability of 10.4 percent, the least probable completion of the NFL season through three weeks.


“To throw an off-balance throw with that accuracy down the field like that was one of those plays we’ve been looking for,” Nagy said. “It was nice to get that. Those are the type of plays right there that really get you going. If there are 10 plays in the NFL that you put on there by a quarterback, that’s 100 percent one of those top 10 plays by a quarterback.”


(3) Bears kicker Eddy Piñeiro displayed mental and physical toughness by battling through a knee injury to make 5-of-6 kicks.


Piñeiro has overcome a lot of adversity to reach the NFL; he and his father slept in a car the night before an open tryout at the University of Alabama because they couldn’t afford a hotel room. So it’s obviously going to take a whole lot to keep Piñeiro out of a game.


The young kicker was listed as questionable on the injury report after hurting his knee in the weight room Saturday. And even though he was limping noticeably, he made 1-of-2 field-goal attempts and 4-of-4 extra-point tries in Monday night’s win.


“In that position it can be mental, especially when you’re not hurt very much,” Nagy said. “And kickers, unless they have something nagging that’s going on, they’re not getting banged up every game like these other guys are where they have body ailments that they have to take care of throughout the week. So when something like that comes up and you’re in a little bit of pain, you’ve got to fight through it.”


Punter Pat O'Donnell handled kickoff duties against the Redskins in place of Piñeiro, which should help his sore knee heal.


“Where we prevent it from getting worse is kickoffs,” Nagy said. “I think that’s where you get that violent action coming through, where you’re doing those. That’s where you can kind of prevent that a little bit.”