Kyle Long has gone through quite the rainbow of quarterbacks over his short career. In 2013 he split time between Jay Cutler and Josh McCown. A year later he got a brief taste of Jimmy Clausen. Last year Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley each got turns when Cutler was hurt. This season it was four games of Mike Glennon before the team turned to rookie Mitch Trubisky.
One would think Long has pretty much seen or heard every different way a quarterback can act in and out of the huddle. As it turns out he freely admitted this isn’t the case. Trubisky is not like the others. He’s…different. Long went into detail about what makes the rookie unique, and special.
“He doesn’t seem like a rookie to us anymore,” said Kyle Long. “He just takes command of the huddle. I’ve never played with a guy who does it like he does. The attention to detail, the ability to be very straight-forward with the offensive line and communicate any issues we may have. Mitch is a guy who has no issue with being open with his communications.”
Kyle Long isn’t only Bears teammate impressed by Trubisky
Josh Sitton was actually the first player to speak up on Trubisky. Last week while talking to Packers media he stated how the rookie would yell at guys for breaking the huddle too soon. Nobody steps out until he breaks it himself. It was a level of command not usually seen in a 23-year old starting the first games of his professional career.
Josh Sitton with funny anecdote on Mitch Trubisky: "We started to break the huddle early, and he said, ‘Get the f— back in the huddle, and don’t break it until I break it.’ He kind of cussed at all of us linemen, and I was like, ‘Hell, yeah. I respect the s— out of that.’
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) November 8, 2017
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It’s clear by both these accounts that Trubisky takes this job seriously. Not just the Xs and Os either. He doesn’t take the responsibilities as a leader for granted. Every little thing he can do to ensure teammates can and should listen to him, he takes it. He gets into practice before everybody, leaves after everybody, helps them with taking off pads and grinds on film constantly.
The results haven’t all been spectacular yet, but they have been improving. Trubisky had the best game of his young career against Green Bay with 297 yards and a touchdown. There are still kinks to work out, but the progress is hard to miss. Based on comments like the one from Long? Several Bears are anxious to see where this goes.
They’ll get their chance with seven games left to play. Then things get really interesting next offseason.
