If there’s one thing every NFL head coach wants to have with their quarterback, it’s trust; knowing they’re going to make the right call, the proper read, and a good throw when the offense needs it most.
It’s hard imagining any scenario where Bears coach Matt Nagy ever felt that level of confidence in quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who now in his fourth year in the league is still a work-in-progress when it comes to reading coverages.
This fatal flaw in Trubisky’s game was on display when he threw an inexplicable interception in the third quarter on a pass intended for tight end Jimmy Graham that was not only off-target, but right into the waiting arms of a Falcons defender that Trubisky simply didn’t see.
He misread the coverage and Nagy pulled the plug. Nick Foles entered the lineup and the impact he had on the offense was obvious almost immediately.
By now you know how it ended: Foles threw three fourth-quarter touchdowns and the Bears completed a 16-point comeback to move to 3-0.
‘‘He kind of has a history in these big moments of making things happen,’’ Nagy said after the game. ‘‘There was just a calm out there that I really felt by him. You become a little bit one-dimensional, [but] there were some plays in those last couple of drives where he got us in a good situation, and he made a lot of plays happen based off of his experience. That’s good to have.’’
That calming effect Nagy is referring to is a direct result of the confidence he had in Foles’ ability to run the offense the way it’s designed, and if the need to change a play arose, the trust he had in Foles to make that call.
‘‘I felt good out there,” Foles said on Sunday. “Not perfect, but I felt good.”
Foles, who’s had zero live in-game reps with the Bears offense, will only get better the more he works with Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller, Jimmy Graham, and the rest of Chicago’s skill players.
Nagy’s trust in Foles will continue to grow, too, and more wins are likely to come as a result.