Eddie Jackson got a taste of something he wasn’t used to on Thursday night at Soldier Field. Fans raining boos down on the team. Granted, he’s probably smart enough to know they weren’t directed at the defense, which allowed just 10 points and sacked Aaron Rodgers five times. It all went towards the offense, which managed just three points and a turnover. At the heart of the matter was quarterback Mitch Trubisky.
He had yet another off night on primetime television with just 228 yards and an interception. Nothing about the game showed the progress teammates and coaches insisted he’d made throughout training camp. He still didn’t go through his progressions properly, made bad decisions, and looked flustered. To be fair, it wasn’t just him. The offensive line let him get sacked five times. Head coach Matt Nagy allowed just 12 carries by the running backs.
It wasn’t pretty. Jackson though thinks the boos don’t help anybody. He told McNeil & Parkins of 670 The Score that what the offense needs is support. Especially Trubisky.
“Your quarterback, he needs the confidence. You got to build him up, let him know, ‘We’re still rocking with you.’ Let the offense know, ‘We’re still rocking with you.’ Don’t boo them. That’s just one of the things I don’t like.
“You got to understand he’s a quarterback. He’s a young quarterback. It’s his third year, second year in a new offense. He needs as much confidence as he can get. It’s a lot of talk going on about him on the Internet, things like that, and as a player, you’re a human being. You can say you don’t pay attention to this, you don’t pay attention to that, but at the same time, you’re human.”
Eddie Jackson is right but also wrong in his statement
Jackson is right in that the fans should not overreact to one game. It’s a long season and the Bears have been here before. They know they can rally. The wins will come. Try to be patient. However, he’s not entirely in the right either. Fans were sold the same message for months. Trubisky has improved in so many ways. Just get him on the field and it will show. Then in the first game, he looks like the QB he was at the start of 2018. Nothing looked different.
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He needs to realize this city has endured disappointing quarterback play for a long time. They’re tired of it. They’re tired of having to watch other teams, especially rivals get standout play from the position while they’re forced to suffer through constant mediocrity. This is a Super Bowl-caliber roster. The defense is elite. Offensively they have the talent and a good enough system. Like it or not, it’s the quarterback who is holding everything back.
Trubisky does deserve more time to get things off the ground. He is in no danger of losing his job. Jackson is absolutely right about that. As for the boos? There’s a simple solution to that problem.
Play better.
