The Chicago Bears won on Thanksgiving with backup quarterback Chase Daniel after second-year signal-caller Mitchell Trubisky injured his shoulder late in the previous tilt.
The thought entering last Thursday was that the short week prevented Trubisky from healing enough to play. Had the game been on Sunday, the reporting went, the starter might have played.
Perhaps, however, Chicago could give Trubisky another week of rest.
Bears coach Matt Nagy joined the *RapSheet and Friends Podcast* this week, telling NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport that Chicago will take his status one day at a time. While Nagy told reporters Wednesday he did not anticipate Trubisky would practice, the young signal-caller was listed as limited on the injury report.
"We don't," Nagy replied when asked if he knows about Trubisky's availability. "It will be one of those day-to-days for us as we go. We need to know each day where he's at. We kind of went through the same type of thing with Khalil [Mack] and Allen Robinson several weeks ago. It's just hard because these guys want to be out there and they want to play but sometimes we need to protect the player from the player. And they ultimately understand that, so we'll just go day-by-day, we'll have them both ready and we'll see where it takes us."
Nagy mentioning Mack's and Robinson's situations is instructive. The Bears held out both starters for two weeks to ensure they were fully healthy. Chicago won against both creampuffs in that stretch. Facing the 3-8 New York Giants, the Bears could trust Daniel to earn another road win.
Of course, Nagy noted that Trubisky doesn't want to miss a second start.
"He's doing well," Nagy told Rapoport. "He's improving each day, which is important. He's a tough kid, you know and sometimes when you get in these type of situations, you need to make sure that he understands that we need to do what's best not only for him but for the team as well. He wants to be out there, but we need to just make sure we're doing the right thing and that he's communicating to us how he feels and we're getting feedback from our training staff and that we put it all together and do the right thing with him."
If he's fully healthy, Trubisky should start. The second-year passer has showed tremendous growth in his first season under Nagy before the injury. Every snap would aid that development before the playoffs begin.
If he's less than 100 percent, however, the Bears could decide to ride Daniel once more against a bottom-five team.
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