One thing about Chicago Bears players over the years? They always seem to be equal part entertainers as they are football players. Dick Butkus went into acting after his career ended. Steve McMichael became a professional wrestler. Spice Adams is an enjoyable comedian for Bears.com. So in that longstanding tradition, we’re calling the shot now. Kyle Long will be the next Bear to have a bright entertainment career after football.
The guy is a laugh a minute. He’s a riot on Twitter and seems to always deliver in interviews, be they radio or television. That was on display yet again when he joined NFL Total Access to talk about the state of his recovery from offseason surgeries, the Bears and the new offense being installed by head coach Matt Nagy.
Long freely admitted that he feels this team being assembled is the best he’s ever played on. For the first time, he’s confident they can truly make a run at the playoffs, something he’s yet to experience as a professional. However, he saved his absolute best comments for when the subject of his new quarterback came up.
Kyle Long likens Trubisky to a child finally off training wheels
Long by nature is a fan of his quarterbacks because that’s how it’s been bred in him as an offensive lineman. By that same token, he tends to know what his QB is thinking. So when he was asked to describe how Mitch Trubisky looks in the new offense, his answer was insightful and hilarious all at the same time.
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“I’d say they took his training wheels off this spring. I can only envision a 3-year-old Mitch Trubisky riding around on training wheels being pissed off because he wants to go over the jumps and he wants to do all the tricks like the big kids are doing. Because that’s who Mitch is. He’s a kid, but he can roll with the big guys. That’s when he’s going to do this (season), and be able to have some freedom and creativity. We really respect that about coach Nagy. He’s really letting (Trubisky) fly his freak flag.”
It’s quite a vivid description that any man who had a normal childhood can understand. Anyone with eyes could see how constrained Trubisky was under John Fox and Dowell Loggains last season. He was hardly allowed to throw the ball at times, as little as 10 passes in one game. Much of it had to do with the ultra-conservative nature of Fox and the deathly fear of a rookie QB turning it over all the time.
He never understood that this is how young quarterbacks learn. They have to make mistakes. The worst thing a coach can do is teach him not to be aggressive, not willing to take risks. Quarterbacks like that don’t thrive in this league. It’s this perhaps more than other reasons that GM Ryan Pace chose to dismiss Fox in favor of Nagy.
Leave it to Long to find the perfect description of how Trubisky must feel about it.
