The Bears trailed 10-9 at that point. And everyone in the building felt it. He felt good about it, medical people felt good about it, everybody. "Latavius had some good conversions, I had some good conversions..."

The reason why? The debut of Mitch Trubisky. That led to a switch to Case Keenum, who energized the Minnesota offense and was the catalyst to the triumph.

Trubisky looked sharp - if not a bit excited - on his first drive. Compare to that Glennon, who lost his job after posting a 66.4 percent completion percentage with an average of 5.95 yards per attempt and a 24.5 total QBR. Amusing that it comes when the team is 1-3 and comes home after a 21-point loss on the road. They chose to make a change after a blowout loss at Green Bay on September 28, and all eyes were on Trubisky in this one.

The team that establishes its running game will win this contest on Monday night. Football is a very violent game, and it only takes one hit to get the Vikings back to the drawing board and their backup quarterback. "They feel his presence.... There's no doubt in my mind". But the Bears urgency for results left them with task of trying to win Monday with an unproven rookie.

It was time for the new kid to really step up.

Coaches clearly believed, and that in itself seemed to be something different.

Chicago Bears punter Pat O'Donnell threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Benny Cunningham. Trubisky's first career touchdown pass wasn't the prettiest thing - tipped off the hands of Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo to Zach Miller for the 20-yard score - but the two-point conversion to tie the game might have been.

Desperate teams try gimmicky things. Bradford, through no fault of his own, didn't have the juice Monday night.

The defense bailed the Vikings out one final time, however, when safety Harrison Smith picked Trubisky off at the Chicago 27 with 2:20 to play. I thought the Bears' play-calling didn't consistently play to his strengths, with too many plays from under center instead of from the shotgun. "You gotta love everything about it". Trubisky attempted six passes traveling 15-plus yards downfield on Monday, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Trubisky is by far the most athletic quarterback the Bears have had in recent memory, and his ability to play outside the pocket and throw on the run will become a huge advantage for Chicago. Trubisky utilized a play-action fake to the left and rolled out right before slinging the throw downfield to McBride, who hauled in the ball while diving to field the reception.

Running back Jerick McKinnon had one of his finest games in relief of the injured Dalvin Cook, gaining 112 rushing and receiving yards through early in the fourth quarter. He didn't quite last through the first half. The fumble was Trubisky's on a strip-sack when Minnesota defensive end Everson Griffen beat left tackle Charles Leno to the outside.

Rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky's first National Football League start was that big, that emotional, that exciting, that wildly anticipated by Bears fans and teammates.