Mitch Trubisky can’t avoid the news these days. Probably his lowest point to date came when the Chicago Bears declined the 5th year option on his rookie contract. A surefire sign that he has failed to meet their expectations up to this point. Meanwhile, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, who were taken after him back in 2017, saw their options picked up. Both are expected to secure huge paydays in the near future. Trubisky is left wondering if he’ll even have a job by the end of this year.
This has led to an ongoing question. How in the world did Bears GM Ryan Pace see Trubisky as a better QB than those two? The short answer is he loved the talent and personality. Pace fell in love with Trubisky the person and saw images of Drew Brees when watching him. By the time the draft rolled around, it was pretty much set in stone. There was no going back. The rest is history.
However, is that really it. Author John Feinstein who writes for the Washington Post revealed a conversation he had with Washington Redskins VP Doug Williams about a polarizing topic. Would the Bears have drafted Trubisky if Mahomes and Watson were white? His answer is telling.
Is that true or just revisionist history with Mitch Trubisky?
One must remember that Williams was a black quarterback himself. The first in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. He had to go through so many roadblocks to find success in his career. A lot of it was because of the color of his skin. So it’s only natural he’d take that stance. Is it true though? Many Bears fans have raised the question about whether the McCaskey family might harbor some racist tendencies. This due in large part to them never pushing hard to draft black quarterbacks.
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The modern era has seen the team employ just three African-Americans at that position. Vince Evans in the 1980s, Kordell Stewart in the early 2000s, and Jason Campbell in 2012. Whenever they had big opportunities to draft prominent black QBs like Daunte Culpepper, Teddy Bridgewater, Mahomes, or Watson they’ve decided to pass. Hence the conspiracy theories that the organization is run by racists.
Of course, there is zero hard evidence to back this up. The most likely truth is the Bears grew blinded by what Trubisky could be versus what he was. Plenty of draft experts made that same mistake. It’s easy to play armchair GM after the fact. Pace undoubtedly blundered in a big way, but the odds of skin color playing any part in it are remote.
