In case Chicago Bears fans weren’t already aware, some people out there don’t like Mitch Trubisky. Now look. This is not a puff piece for the young quarterback. He showcased some annoying problems in 2018. He missed too many open receivers and struggled with some erratic decision-making at times. Things that must get cleaned up if he wants to take a step forward.
However, there is a community of fans and analysts out there who seem more heavily critical of Trubisky than seems fair. Several have already declared him a lost cause. This despite being in his second season and the first of a brand new offense. Yet they act like he should be owning the league already. Why is that?
There are a few factors that would explain it, but mostly it’s his status as a #2 overall pick. Having that designation adds extra layers of expectation, fair or otherwise. You were drafted this high, so you should be playing at this level already. People often forget that not every athlete adapts to the pro game at light speed.
There are several example of jumping to conclusions right away.
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Mitch Trubisky is hardly the first to be declared an immediate lost cause
The good news is, these knee-jerk reactionaries are hardly batting .1000 in their long history. Several other highly drafted quarterbacks came under intense scrutiny because they either were taken too high or didn’t excel right away. One example? Hall of Famer Troy Aikman. Back in 1989, Al Carter of the Houston Chronicle was quoted say this after the Dallas Cowboys took him #1 overall.
“Aikman hasn’t provoked comparisons to John Elway or Terry Bradshaw even from close relatives. But public emotions called this shot. So desperate were glory-starved Cowboys’ fans for an heir to Roger Staubach, even the Tom Landry brain trust considered it a necessity to grab something – anything – quarterbackish.
Had the Cowboys been able to live with Steve Pelluer, they could have drafted Tony Mandarich. No one yawns over Mandarich, a 310-pound tackle who resembles Anthony Munoz and will now complement running backs in Green Bay.”
Ouch. Hard to live that one down.
Not only did Aikman go on to win three Super Bowls and reach Canton, but Mandarich became a gigantic draft bust for the Green Bay Packers. Not enough. Then there’s Jared Goff. The man was the #1 overall pick after the Rams gave away a bounty of draft picks to get him. Then when he didn’t start right away, Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter had seen enough.
“The guys know he can’t play…They messed this pick up…I’m going to draft a kid from Cal with the No. 1 pick, I’m moving this franchise [from St. Louis to Los Angeles] and he’s not going to play? Like they have made a colossal mess-up. Just admit it,” Carter said. “We all make mistakes. I’ve stepped in more piles of doo-doo than most people, but I admit it. I clean my shoes off, change my shoes and get to steppin’. Try to avoid those.”
Goff has now reached two-straight Pro Bowls and took his team to the Super Bowl last season. These are just two examples. There are plenty of others. The point is assessing the fate of a quarterback off his draft status or a slow start to his career is not a surefire method. Trubisky deserves the window of time allotted to prove this.
