People want to focus on Mitch Trubisky the man when it comes to his NFL future. After all that’s ultimately who’s going to decide the outcome of his career. Sure the Chicago Bears must do everything possible to help, but he’ll only get as much out of it as he puts in. Tom Brady isn’t great because he’s the most talented. He’s great because nobody will ever outwork him. The same went for Peyton Manning and other all-timers. That being said, what about the Mitch Trubisky Ohio lineage?
Bloodlines are a pretty amazing thing in professional sports. Not only do certain families produce great athletes, but so do certain regions of a country. Most people think Ohio is known best for producing great astronauts. That is true, but it’s also a state that has delivered some truly amazing quarterbacks. Not just run-of-the-mill great ones either.
Quarterbacks whom experts never gave a chance to succeed in the NFL but did it anyway. It’s a lineage that goes back almost 60 years and one that Trubisky is lining up to join.
Mitch Trubisky Ohio lineage starts with Len Dawson
Poor Len Dawson of Alliance, Ohio was always fighting against expectations. He was coming out of what was viewed as a lower tier school at Purdue in 1957. Even though he was a fifth overall pick, the Pittsburgh Steelers barely gave him a chance before pulling the plug. It didn’t help people thought he was too small to begin with at 6’0″. Then the Steelers traded for future Hall of Famer Bobby Layne in 1958.
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Seeing the writing on the wall, he was traded to Cleveland. There too he was relegated to backup duty behind a veteran starter. By the time he became a free agent in 1960, most viewed him as a major bust. So he had to take a major career risk to get back in the game. He signed on with the Dallas Texans of the upstart American Football League. Like him, nobody gave that league a chance.
Also like him, they endured. The Texans soon moved to Kansas City where they became the Chiefs. Dawson finally had a team ready to invest in him and they were rewarded. He’d reach six Pro Bowls, win three AFL championships and lead them to victory in Super Bowl IV.
Roger Staubach
A native of Cincinnati, Roger Thomas Staubach was the personification of Americana. A young man who was contrasting in so many ways. Prone to following rules like the son of a military man would be expected to. Yet also so fluid and unpredictable on the field. He was something different in an era of football entrenched in traditional values.
Even though he was a star at Navy, winning the Heisman in 1963, people still had doubts about his future. They knew he’d be serving in the military. So it would be years before he ever got to the NFL. That’s why he was a lowly 10th round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 1964. Belief was that Staubach wouldn’t amount to much in pro football once his tours were over.
After braving the dangers of Vietnam, he returned to civilian life at the age of 27. That’s is pretty old for an NFL rookie. Not only that, he had to spend two years battling for the starting job. By 1971 his career was at a crossroads. The Cowboys had to make a decision. Go with their proven man Craig Morton or give Staubach his chance. They chose the latter. He responded with two Super Bowl championships and six Pro Bowls. All within a short nine-season span.
Ben Roethlisberger
Believe it or not, even “Big” Ben Roethlisberger had his fair share of critics when he came into the league. Coming out of Lima, there was no doubt about his physical skill. He was remarkably athletic for a guy who was 6’5″. That wasn’t the problem. It was two issues that came up during his time in college. His playing style and the schools’ background.
Roethlisberger developed a reputation for playing “backyard” football at Miami of Ohio. In other words he relied solely on his physical ability to make plays rather than operating within a system. There was no way he’d get away with that sort of play in the NFL. As for the school, it wasn’t known for producing top tier talent. Since 1945, only one of its previous 71 players drafted had gone to a Pro Bowl.
Those were big reasons why he was the third quarterback selected in the 2004 draft. In fact the Pittsburgh Steelers were the only team to work him out privately. Indeed the freelance problems cropped up at times, but Roethlisberger found a way to make it work. As most great ones do. Two Super Bowl titles and five Pro Bowls later, it’s safe to say the doubters were nitpicking on that one.
Trubisky
Thus we come back to the next Ohio product. Mitch Trubisky is encountering his own doubters. Much of that due to things out of his control just like those mentioned above. He only started 13 games in college. Conventional wisdom says that’s not nearly enough. Not to get him ready for the massive increase in speed and complexity that is college to the NFL. The man himself disputes this, believing people are shortchanging the work he’s put in.
“It’s pretty obvious I only started 13 games, but I played in 30,” Trubisky said. “I think there’s a lot of things you can look at besides playing experience. I do have a lot of experience around the game, being at North Carolina for four years. I guarantee I’ve watched as much tape if not more than all the other quarterbacks going through this process. I’ve seen a lot of ball. I’m a student of the game. I’m a quick learner. The experience thing does hold some weight but I’ve been around the game long enough, I know enough and I definitely know enough, and I’ve shown what I can do last year and I will be successful at the next level.”
Above anything else a player must be confident in himself if he’s going to succeed at this. Especially if he plans to tackle the crater-infested landscape that is the Bears quarterback history. Then again, it almost seems like this challenge was made for him. Ohio QBs need something to fight against in order to reach their absolute best. Perhaps fate has drawn both him and the city of Chicago together.
