The Mitch Trubisky debut against the Green Bay Packers did not go as planned for the Chicago Bears. It was a constant nightmare in fact. No Aaron Rodgers for the game, so no excuse right? Well in predictable fashion the team came out entirely flat. Green Bay were the aggressors from the opening gun. The Bears lacked discipline and they lacked urgency. Constant penalty issues killed drives and the defense showed zero fight.
The fact this happened with the Bears having 15 days to prepare in advance pretty much puts a stamp on head coach John Fox and his forgettable time with the team. Nobody wants to see him oversee Trubisky moving forward. He’s too old, too conservative and too unwilling to tell the players what they need to hear.
At the same time, in the midst of that cringe-worthy afternoon something happened. Something that people likely didn’t notice. In spite of another demoralizing defeat to the Packers, their young quarterback accomplished something nobody ever has in the past five decades.
Mitch Trubisky debut vs. Packers was best ever for a Bears rookie
Bears quarterbacks in general tend to get exposed by the Packers in their debuts. It’s a fact of life many have grown to live with. However, rookie quarterbacks especially have gotten exposed. Go back through the entire era and it’s a long list of ugly. Well that is except for Trubisky, who is the first rookie Bears QB in the Super Bowl era to ever throw a touchdown pass in his debut vs. Green Bay.
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- Virgil Carter: 5-of-14, 51 yards, 2 INTs
- Gary Huff: 10-of-27, 110 yards, 1 INT
- Bob Avellini: 9-of-25, 109 yards, 3 INTs
- Cade McNown: 2-of-5, 15 yards
- Kyle Orton: 6-of-17, 68 yards, 1 INT
- Mitch Trubisky: 21-of-35, 297 yards, 1 TD
Not only is the Bears #2 overall pick far superior to anybody else on that list, it’s not even close. In fact he played better than the three other first round picks besides McCown, all of whom didn’t play Green Bay until their second or even third seasons.
- Jim McMahon: 20-of-38, 298 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
- Jim Harbaugh: 16-of-30, 203 yards
- Rex Grossman: 10-of-18, 131 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Jay Cutler, who was a Pro Bowler at the time, threw four interceptions in his first crack. He played against the Packers for eight seasons. In that span (14 games) he had no interceptions in a game just twice and a quarterback rating of 97 or higher once. Trubisky managed to accomplish both in his first try.
That he was able to do it with second-rate weaponry and third-rate coaching? It’s hard not to feel at least a little enthusiastic about that. If the Bears could get him weapons and some adequate coaching? This might truly be the man Chicago has waited for.
