Mitch Trubisky is his own worst enemy. That may not seem obvious to a lot of people. Defenses have figured him out. They’re the reason he is playing so poorly now, right? Not exactly. The Chicago Bears quarterback showed last Sunday against the Detroit Lions that he is still capable of making truly special throws when he operates with confidence and conviction. His problem is that confidence has been absent for much of 2019 and people are left wondering where it went.
This isn’t the player who ended 2018 on such a strong note. The man who threw for over 300 yards and a touchdown against the defending Super Bowl champions in the playoffs. What in the world happened to him? It’s like he just up and vanished. According to Rich Campbell and Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune, the belief is Trubisky’s confidence was badly shaken after his highly-disappointing performance on opening night against the Green Bay Packers.
“In some ways, Bears coaches have learned, Trubisky’s admirable inner drive and self-critical nature can be his worst enemy, occasionally creating self-induced pressure that becomes suffocating.
In that regard, an argument can be made that the Bears’ 100th season arrived at exactly the wrong moment.
After Trubisky’s bumpy ride through training camp this summer, with too many uneven practices and the tenacious defense feasting on an August interception binge, the Bears hosted the NFL’s 100th-season kickoff party. That meant a big-stage Thursday night battle against the rival Packers.
Amid all the pomp and circumstance and with the whole league watching, Trubisky failed to lead the offense to a single touchdown and threw a costly interception in the end zone late in the fourth quarter.”
Mitch Trubisky once again failed under the lights
One can understand. Trubisky was under a ton of pressure going into opening night. All offseason head coach Matt Nagy had talked about him being in “202” of the offensive system. This meant he was expected to show marked improvement. He’d had one of his best games the year before against the Packers at Soldier Field. He had several weeks to prepare. Then he goes out and throws for 228 yards and an interception, managing just three points.
The fact the Packers currently have the 23rd ranked pass defense only makes that game look even worse too.
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Things only went downhill from there. Trubisky struggled again in Week 2 but finally seemed to settle himself in Washington with three TD passes against the Redskins. Then before he could even build on that, he injures his shoulder against the Vikings in Week 4 and is out. So it’s been a mixture of crushing disappointment from the Packers game along with ill-timed injury that has set the Bears quarterback on the path he currently finds himself.
Seven games left in the season. His job status in question. Rumors of frustration over his inconsistency growing. A lot of quarterbacks have seen their careers die because they couldn’t pull themselves out of deep regressions like this. Can Trubisky put that game to rest? Odds are we’ll know by the end of December.
