Anybody who has heard the name Michael Lombardi knows his story. A former GM who spent time with several different organizations including Cleveland and New England, he had a long career in NFL front offices but hasn’t held any such job for years. He has become an analyst since then and developed quite the reputation for his strongly-worded opinions. One of his favorite targets has been Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
Lombardi drew a ton of headlines last season when he appeared as a guest on the Follow the Money podcast and made a rather inflammatory remark about the 24-year-old signal caller. “No, I’m not buying Mitchell Trubisky,” Lombardi said. “You couldn’t get me to buy Mitchell Trubisky if you had him on a discount rack at Filene’s Basement. There’s no chance. There’s no chance. He can’t throw the ball inbounds half the time. I mean, it’s a joke.”
He said those words after Trubisky struggled in a win over the Bills. A rather reactionary comment if ever there was one. Sure enough the next week the QB lit up Detroit for over 350 yards and three touchdowns. Lombardi stood his ground on the comments even after Trubisky finished strong down the stretch. Time hasn’t changed his mind much it seems.
Mitch Trubisky remains a long shot in Lombardi’s mind
Lombardi detailed in a recent article for The Athletic what it will take for teams that had big turnarounds in 2018 to take that next step towards becoming great. One of those steps was called “Be simple and let players play.” His example here was detailing how Matt Nagy tended to outthink himself with his scheming at times. He doesn’t need more complex plays, just better execution from the players.
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Is it any coincidence that he listed Trubisky’s name almost immediately after making this statement?
“The key for the Bears to move from good to great won’t be for (Matt) Nagy to develop more misdirection plays; instead it will center on their ability to execute plays against the best competition at the critical moments of the game, which is a fancier way of saying quarterback Mitchell Trubisky must take a giant leap forward in 2019.”
It’s funny that Lombardi continues to pick on Trubisky without bothering to mention the other 10 players on offense who didn’t always do their part. Jordan Howard averaged just 3.6 yards per carry. Anthony Miller had problems dropping the football. Trey Burton and Adam Shaheen struggled staying healthy. Nobody is saying the quarterback was perfect but he was far from being the overwhelming reason they didn’t achieve more.
