Just how pent up was the frustrations among the Chicago Bears coaching staff regarding Mitch Trubisky? Head coach Matt Nagy needed less than three full games this season before he’d seen enough to pull the plug. He moved to Nick Foles in Atlanta and won the game on a 16-point comeback. In that span, it became obvious all too quickly how different the two quarterbacks are.
One assistant coach may have unintentionally let his personal feelings on that subject slip through. Mike Furrey is the Bears wide receivers coach. So one can imagine he has certain opinions regarding the state of the quarterback position. He probably didn’t intend to take a shot at Trubisky during his session with the media, but that is what happened.
Interesting tidbit from Bears WRs coach Mike Furrey today, asked about a back-shoulder throw from Foles to Wims.
“Obviously we haven’t had a lot of those the last two or three years. And so that’s going to happen now.”
A new element with Foles at QB. The WRs have to be ready.
— Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) September 28, 2020
This is the play in question. It’s 1st and 10. Foles has Wims isolated in man coverage. On the snap, he immediately goes that way. At first glance, it looks like it’s an underthrown ball. The truth is he intentionally threw it that way. If Wims were expecting it, he’d have been able to turn back and make the catch without the corner able to do anything. It is why the back shoulder throw is one of the hardest in the NFL to defend.
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Furrey basically said Mitch Trubisky isn’t capable of making such throws
Is he wrong? Not really. When it came to throwing with timing and anticipation, Trubisky never showed any consistency. His game was more about throwing to spots or moving around and making something happen with his feet. That severely limits the full potential of an offense. Especially the wide receivers.
Furrey has remained adamant that the Bears have a capable group of pass catchers. The big moments produced in the first three games is proof enough of that. Yet the inaccuracies of Trubisky made it hard for them to truly shine. Moving to Foles allowed everybody to see that. One can imagine the coach was so relieved to finally see his guys validated.
Still, he may have some apologizing to do in the locker room for that comment.