CHICAGO -- Since taking over as the Chicago Bears starting quarterback early last season, Mitch Trubisky has been a bit pedestrian. The 24-year-old heated up in a hurry on Sunday.
Trubisky posted his best game as a pro, throwing for career-highs of 354 yards and six touchdown passes to five different receivers as the Bears torched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48-10 to improve to 3-1. Trubisky was 19-for-26 in pass attempts.
"Hopefully this is something I can look back on and say, 'This is where it all started,'" Trubisky said.
Before Sunday, Trubisky had only thrown nine touchdown passes in 15 career games. His only multiple touchdown outing came in Week 2 of this season against the Seahawks, when he threw two.
The last time a Bears quarterback threw at least five touchdowns in a game was Dec. 11, 1949, when Johnny Lujack threw six. Entering Sunday, the Bears had gone 1,005 consecutive games without a five-touchdown passer, by far the longest drought in the NFL. The 49ers were the next closest, having gone 446 straight games since Joe Montana threw six touchdowns in 1990.
"I have been here a while and I have never been a part of a win like this," veteran offensive lineman Kyle Long said. "It feels really good to sit here with a smile on my face. For the last five, six years I've been saying, 'We're getting better, we're getting better, we're young. We're going to get there.' And you could see it. But now you guys get to see what I'm seeing. It feels good. The secret is out."
The Bears have typically not been known for splashy offenses -- only stout defenses. In fact, since the start of the Super Bowl era, Chicago has only scored 50 or more points in a regular season or postseason game twice: a 61-7 throttling of the Packers in 1980 and a 51-20 win over the Tennessee Titans in 2012. The 48 points marked the Bears' most points since that 2012 game.
"This is what we can do when we're rolling," tight end Trey Burton said.
Trubisky's outburst was part of a larger trend in the NFL. He was the fourth quarterback with five or more touchdown passes in a game already this season, which is more than the previous two seasons combined (three instances). The Bears' spread was especially effective against the Buccaneers, who had a tough time keeping up. Of Trubisky's touchdown passes, three came on wide-open throws, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
Trubisky hit the five-touchdown mark by halftime as the Bears stormed to a 38-3 lead. The Buccaneers did not blitz Trubisky at all in the first half and only pressured him three times. Operating under pressure has been a weak spot for the second-year player. Entering Sunday, Trubisky had the NFL's worst Total QBR (9.9) against the blitz.
Trubisky began the game with a 75-yard, six-play drive that took two minutes and ended with a 39-yard strike to tight end Trey Burton. He was only getting started.
The Bears now enter their bye week.
"It's the worst possible time to have a bye week," Burton said, with a smile.