The panic button has already been pressed by some Bears fans. Mitchell Trubisky isn’t ready to be an NFL quarterback and there’s doubt he ever will be. Some even disparage the faith general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy actually have in their young quarterback.
The problem with this train of thought is all too easy to point out. Either you haven’t seen the Bears twenty-one starting quarterbacks since 2000 or you haven’t realized the moves Pace has made to show his faith. You don’t bring in a new head coach, sign Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, and Trey Burton. Trade up for Anthony Miller and trade away two first round picks if its someone you don’t believe in.
And the obvious reply to all the hate, be patient. Give him time. It’s his first year under a new offense trying to rid his mind of the former head coach John Fox “Don’t take risks” mentality. Fox, a lot like former NFL head coach Jeff Fisher has never been able to develop a quarterback. He’s either been getting journeymen quarterbacks or getting fired for almost ruining young ones.
And some will say “What about the success of Carson Wentz, Jared Goff, Patrick Mahomes II, and Deshaun Watson” but fail to realize they’re in year two or three of their offenses. They know the ins and outs. They know how to audible to any play they want. Trubisky has only played two games in this offense with four new position players. Not a single receiver from last year besides Joshua Bellamy is on this team. We have to give him time to develop.
We can blame Trubisky all we want for the Packers game but the fact is, it wasn’t all his fault. The defense gave up three fourth-quarter touchdowns to Aaron Rodgers, including two that came from thirty-nine and seventy-five yard passes. It wasn’t his fault Nagy decided to throw on third and one knowing full well the first down would all but ice the game. The truth is the NFL is a team sport. You win as a team, you lose as a team. Winning isn’t a quarterbacks’ stat and quarterbacks don’t single-handedly win games unless they’re that special.
The point is Trubisky was playing against high schoolers only twenty-seven starts ago. The game will slow down as soon as he gets the full grasp of this highly complex playbook. He’s young, his footwork needs work but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.
For eight years Bears fans watched Cutler believing he was the chosen one we gave him our time and patience. But fourteen games in and some are already saying enough. Trubisky didn’t have the best game against the Seahawks but even after the interceptions, his confidence wasn’t shaken. He shrugged it off and had a pretty good second half. And as Matt Nagy said “he could throw four interceptions and I’d still trust him” and I completely agree. The best way to get better is to play and he’ll play a lot and get better every week.
In fact, I’d rather a young quarterback start off a little rocky as opposed to going out looking like Mahomes. Sometimes it’s easier to determine what to do differently when this is the case. Mahomes looks great right now but what will happen when he throws his first, second or third interception. It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when.
The point is Bears fans Trubisky deserves our patience. A career can’t be determined by one play, one game or one year. Learning an NFL offense is like going to college, it take more than one year to get a degree.