-by Dylan Webster, host of The Home Stand
We’ve seen the highs. We’ve seen the lows. We’ve seen the good, the bad, AND the ugly. Oh man, we sure have seen the ugly. Mitch Trubisky has had one of the most roller coaster careers that I can recall in my lifetime. Granted he’s only been in the NFL for four years, but it still seems we’ve seen both the floor and the ceiling of Trubisky’s abilities. But it also appears we may have seen the last of him in a Chicago Bears uniform.
As I read numerous articles and listened to countless talking heads discuss the end of the Trubisky era for Chicago, I came across something interesting. Something that really sparked my interest to write this piece. An old quote from Bears general manager Ryan Pace during Trubisky’s introductory press conference in 2017. One where Pace compared the top 3 drafted quarterbacks of that year’s draft (Trubisky, Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson, Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes) to a player that he was extremely familiar with during his time in New Orleans. Drew Brees.
“All these top quarterbacks, it’s just their ability to quickly process defense, process coverage, find open targets, not panic under pressure, deliver accurate throws when there’s a noisy pocket and things are collapsing. Those guys all have those traits. Mitch has those traits. Drew has those traits.”
In my opinion, most of that statement is true. Drew Brees is one of the best players in the game right now and obviously has those traits. Deshaun Watson shares those same traits which led him to a national championship at Clemson and continue to serve him as one of the young, rising superstars of the NFL today. Patrick Mahomes has shown he has those traits as well after winning a Most Valuable Player award in his second year, a Super Bowl in his third, and has now turned himself into the new face of the NFL. Mitch Trubisky, unfortunately, has none of these traits.
Trubisky has shown an inability to read the defense before the snap and recognize coverages after. He routinely overlooks or ignores wide open receivers in an effort to force throws into bad spots. He constantly demonstrates his “happy feet” in the pocket and will rush throws to avoid getting hit. His accuracy that was once listed as a strength, is now a weakness. He is not the “poor man’s Drew Brees” or “Brees 2.0” that Bears fans were promised. He’s nowhere close to that. He’s simply just the wrong guy.
Ryan Pace completely botched the evaluation process in a year when it was extremely important to get it right. The quarterback group was extremely weak in 2017. In any draft year, you hope for five or six good prospects at the quarterback position. This year had two. Watson and Mahomes. Many teams had Trubisky at a distant third. This misstep in Pace’s assessment of Trubisky led to the Bears selecting him second overall in the draft. And now with the success that we’ve seen from the other two quarterbacks so far in their young careers, reporters and analysts from around the league are led to label Mitch Trubisky as something that any high-profile draft pick hopes to avoid. A draft bust.
That being said, there is a small part of me that feels bad for Mitch. He’s just a kid that can’t seem to handle the pressure that comes with being an NFL quarterback. In a city that has long been asking for a savior at that position. He’s a good kid. Someone you absolutely want to root for. He’s handled all the ups and downs with poise and grace. He’s taken responsibility for his mistakes and said repeatedly that he needs to be better. But better never seems to come. I can’t say for sure that we’ve seen the limit of Trubisky’s talent, but I also can’t say that he’ll ever be able to tap into that potential and become that quarterback Chicago needs. And for that, it is time to move on.
The question for the future now is what the Bears will do after this season. There should be numerous options for the Bears as they can look through the draft or free agency for some kind of solution to their problems. For Bears fans, it’s another chance to get “the guy” this team has been looking for since Jim McMahon led the ’85 Bears to a Super Bowl win. For Ryan Pace, it’s one final shot to pick the right guy at the most important position in football. No matter what the outcome is, Chicago will once again be grasping at straws this offseason at the quarterback position. Hoping this time, they won’t draw the short one again.