Hindsight always makes it easy to question a team’s decision to either draft or sign a player. Plenty of people have come out of the woodwork to say the Chicago Bears were dumb to draft Mitch Trubisky. Most of those are liars who probably saw him as a potential franchise QB just like Ryan Pace did. However, there were warning signs even back then. He only had one year of experience in college and had failed to win the starting job over Marquise Williams, a quarterback who never logged a single NFL snap.
It was hard to say if he could truly read defenses or see the field well after just one season. Sure he was a great athlete with a strong arm. Yet everybody knows those are lower on the list of needs for a pro quarterback. The Bears were confident he had the goods. Time has proven that incorrect. However, they also could’ve shied away from if they’d had a more superstitious man in charge during that draft.
How so?
Trubisky wore #10.
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Okay, that is probably a bit confusing so let us dig a bit into team history to help explain.
Mitch Trubisky accepted a cursed number for Bears quarterbacks
People will argue that jersey number has nothing to do with quality of play on the field. However, if one were to examine the record books for this franchise they might think a lot differently. When it comes to the #10, especially quarterbacks? It has been one long nightmare for the Bears. The first player of note to wear it was Rudy Bukich way back in the 1960s. He took over as the start in 1965 and actually had a decent year with 20 TD passes and just nine interceptions.
The next season though? He had 10 TDs and 21 interceptions. A one-year wonder is what he proved to be. Sound familiar?
Next came Bobby Douglass. He actually switched from #14 to #10. That proved to be a bad decision. He completed more passes and had a higher passer rating (50.9) with the former than he did the latter (47.8). Like Bukich he had one okay season in 1972 when he scored 17 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. Otherwise, he was a massive disappointment.
After that, the number wouldn’t be worn again until 1990.
Peter Tom Willis scooped it up, threw six TD passes to 15 interceptions and was gone after four years as a backup. Next was…wait for it…Kordell Stewart in 2003. Feeling the gag reflex yet? The former Pro Bowler was a shell of himself in Chicago, throwing just seven touchdowns to 12 interceptions in seven games. Oh but we saved the best for last.
Todd Collins.
That’s right. The career backup who played a couple of decent games in Washington in 2007 was brought in as the #2 guy behind Jay Cutler in 2010. He proceeded to complete just 10 of 31 passes for no touchdowns and five interceptions. It was a unique low point among many low points in Bears history.
Obviously jersey number alone isn’t enough to warn a team away from a player. That said, anybody with a knowledge of Chicago football history would’ve felt nervous knowing Trubisky planned to wear #10 in this town.
