Mitch Trubisky made headlines after the loss in Green Bay to the Packers when he criticized how the Chicago Bears offense was run during the game. He felt they didn’t do enough to help the offensive line handle the Packers pass rush by moving the pocket and getting him on the move. Something the Bears had been doing the previous couple of weeks to good success. Revisiting the film showed that head coach Matt Nagy ran just two pass plays where Trubisky was able to move the pocket.
This inevitably led to a new round of criticism of the head coach’s play calling. A persistent theme throughout 2019. While some of it is definitely deserved, one person came to his defense. Hub Arkush of Pro Football Weekly spoke with Kurt Warner about the Bears’ offense. When asked about the moving pocket issue, the Hall of Fame quarterback offered a thoughtful answer. One that paints a clear picture of who the real problem is for this team.
“You know I get it, and Mitch probably is good at it because he’s so good with his legs” Warner said.
“The problem most people don’t realize, though, is when you do get your quarterback out of the pocket, you really limit what you can do within your offense, the plays you can call, and on the move it makes it a lot harder for him to read the whole field.”
And Warner’s overall observation about Mitch? “You know, I can see the tools that get people excited and he does make some great throws, but I’m just not sure what he’s seeing a lot of the time.”
“It looks to me like he’s still missing more opportunities to make plays than you’d like.”
Mitch Trubisky continues to show critical deficiencies
One of the most persistent criticisms of Trubisky over the past three seasons has been his field vision. People talk about him missing open receivers from time to time with erratic throws but this is paled in comparison to how many times he failed to even see the wide open man because he was too busy locked in on another target. Sunday in Green Bay was no different. One of the pivotal plays of the game saw him miss a golden opportunity to score a touchdown that might’ve changed the outcome.
Brian Baldinger broke it down perfectly.
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All Trubisky had to do there was glance to the left ever so slightly and he could’ve had a relatively easy TD pass to Javon Wims. Instead he stayed fixed on Cordarrelle Patterson and made a difficult throw along the sideline. It was completed, but the momentum was just enough to carry Patterson’s left foot out of bounds. Another example of Trubisky making things harder for himself and the offense because he can’t see the field well.
Warner is right. For all the criticism Nagy gets, the fact is his play calling needs to be almost perfect every week in order for Trubisky to have success. That is no way to run an offense in the NFL.
