Tramon Williams: Packers wanted to make Trubisky 'play quarterback'
The Green Bay Packers had Mitch Trubisky's number throughout Thursday's season opener, and cornerback Tramon Williams rubbed salt in the young passer's wounds after Green Bay's 10-3 victory.
"We wanted to make Mitch play quarterback," Williams said, according to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. "We knew they had a lot of weapons, we knew they were dangerous, we knew all of those things. But we knew if we could make Mitch play quarterback, that we'd have a chance."
Trubisky completed 26 of 45 passes, the third-most attempts of his career, for 228 yards and a late fourth-quarter interception that was picked off by former Bears safety Adrian Amos in the end zone to all but seal the game for the Packers.
Chicago's offense struggled to find a rhythm all night long and rarely threatened Green Bay territory:
Bears' drives tonight:
- Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 6, 2019
12 yards, punt
16 yards, FG
25 yards, punt
34 yards, punt
12 yards, punt
0 yards, punt
2 yards, punt
9 yards, punt
47 yards, downs
23 yards, punt
59 yards, INT
-11 yards, downs
However, head coach Matt Nagy placed the blame for the loss firmly on his shoulders. He pointed to his own play-calling, especially the lack of a commitment to the running game in a closely-fought contest, as the primary reason for Chicago's disappointing offensive performance.
"I think (Trubisky) saw (the field) OK," Nagy said, according to ESPN's Jeff Dickerson. "But that's not - again, I didn't help him at all. I didn't help him. I've got to help him. And then we've got to get the run game going. That's 15 rushes in 65 plays, you're down 7-3, but we - again, that's something that we're going to, as a staff, get back together and we're going to figure out, OK, what are we doing as coaches and how can we get better to help these kids out.
"Obviously, unacceptable. Starts with me, so this - I just told the guys in there, 'This is not who we are.'"
Trubisky was widely expected to take a big leap heading into Year 3 after a solid sophomore season that earned him a Pro Bowl berth, but he demonstrated little development in his pocket presence or accuracy against Green Bay's new-look defense.
While some pointed to the 25-year-old's lack of preseason action (three snaps, no passes) as the reason for his erratic play, Trubisky rejected the idea as "kind of a stretch."
"I know you guys (the media) are going to try and draw comparisons like that, but really, the snaps in the preseason have nothing to do with the way we executed, or the sloppiness tonight," Trubisky said. "We weren't doing that in practice. We were smooth in practice ... it just seemed a little scattered tonight with all of our personnels, and trying to find a rhythm and trying to find our identity on offense."
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