Mitch Trubisky is not above criticism. Let’s just put that out there right away. He’s far from a perfect quarterback. He has a tendency to make bad decisions that lead to turnovers from time to time. His accuracy can be great at times but inconsistent at others. This largely thanks to him getting lazy with his fundamentals. In truth, he’s acting exactly like what he is. A young and comparatively inexperienced quarterback who’s trying to find his way.
Yet the prevailing perception of him in the wider media is that he is a terrible quarterback. He only benefits from playing in schemes that make life easier. This going all the way back to his days at North Carolina. Sure he’s a great athlete with a strong arm but he just doesn’t have what it takes to be a professional passer. Chicago Bears fans have heard it so much that they’re struggling to stay loyal to their quarterback.
What nobody is acknowledging here is that this image of Trubisky has endured several moments of sabotage. A quarterback is only as good as the talent around him. If one were to take a second and re-examine his rise from college to today, they’d realize that if a few things had gone differently there’s no doubt Trubisky would be viewed in a far more favorable light.
Mitch Trubisky can’t catch or kick the ball too
Here’s the thing about public perception. It’s a fickle beast. One that can drastically alter on the pivot point of just one or two moments in time. For a quarterback like Trubisky, sometimes those moments are out of your hands. That is the double-edged sword of playing a team sport like football. At some point, the quarterback has to trust that his teammates will do their part. Too many times in crucial moments, Trubisky has been let down in this regard.
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Here’s the first big example. When thinking about a seminal moment in his career, most think back to the Sun Bowl against Stanford. People remember it for how Solomon Thomas utterly dominated the game en route to a Cardinal victory. What they forget is how utterly heroic Trubisky was on the final drive. No thanks to his teammates.
The North Carolina receivers had three horrific drops on that final drive alone. Had Ryan Switzer caught that first ball to him, it would’ve been a touchdown with 1:03 left. So even if the Tarheels had failed on their 2-point conversion attempt, there still would’ve been a little time left to have a chance. They may have gotten the ball back and had time to go for a field goal. Instead those drops cost the team 48 precious seconds, making the conversion attempt to even the score a do-or-die moment.
How different would draft experts had seen him then?
Then there’s the other elephant in the room. One of the worst feelings for any football player is putting the fate of a game into the hands of somebody you can’t trust. Yet Trubisky had no choice. After the Bears defense had given up the lead late in the 4th quarter of the wild card game, it was up to him to rescue the situation. With 48 seconds left, Trubisky got the ball at his own 42. In high-stakes conditions, he delivered two pretty passes to Allen Robinson, getting the Bears down to the Eagles 25-yard line.
This set up the field goal unit for a 43-yard attempt. Soldier Field had no wind that night and the temperature, while a bit chilly was hardly frigid. It’s the sort of kick a professional should normally make. The problem was Cody Parkey was anything but that in 2018. He’d already missed 10 kicks that season including one in overtime against Miami that cost the team the game.
Everybody knows what happened next.
How different would the perception of Trubisky now if Parkey had made that kick? He’d have been celebrated for being the epitome of clutch. Somebody the Bears could depend on when the games get tough. Instead, he once again played victim to the failures of others.
Trubisky may have his faults, but he’s a good football player. He wants to win and more often than not does what he has to in order to make that happen. Yet he can’t do it all himself. Football is a team game and the Bears lost last year as a team. So while the ascent of Trubisky is important for this 2019 season, people should make sure to hold those around him to the same standard.
