Normally when a team loses their starting quarterback, it’s a tough blow. Yet it seems like, for the Chicago Bears, most people just seem to shrug their shoulders. Mitch Trubisky hasn’t gotten off to the best start this season, exhibiting many of the same inconsistencies that critics pointed out about him last year. Not an encouraging sign given he’s in the second year of Matt Nagy’s offense. Then he goes down with a shoulder injury and people watch Chase Daniel come in and execute the system with surprising fluidity.
This only fed into the concerns even more. If a backup with limited playing experience like Daniel can execute the system that well, why can’t the former #2 overall pick and Pro Bowl alternate? Nate Burleson of “Good Morning Football” discussed the Bears’ recent victory over the Minnesota Vikings. He was working over at CBS during the Sunday and watched the game with former quarterbacks Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason.
Esiason, a one-time NFL MVP for the Cincinnati Bengals, watched the Trubisky injury unfold and Daniel take over. It was then he made a rather bold statement.
Chase Daniel shows how far away Trubisky still is
Esiason isn’t saying that Daniel is more talented than Trubisky. This is simply not the case. He’s saying that Daniel has a far superior understanding of how the offense must be executed. He must stay in the pocket, survey the field and find the open man. This he did to good effect on Sunday, going 22-of-30 for 195 yards and a touchdown. Against a pretty good Minnesota Vikings defense on top of it. This was a showcase of where Trubisky needs to get.
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For all his physical gifts, the young quarterback still has a problem when it comes to standing in the pocket and finding the open guy. Green Bay Packers corners even said after the opening night loss that their entire gameplan was to keep him from scrambling and force him to “play quarterback.” Trubisky isn’t always willing to do this. Too often he seems too willing to abandon the pocket if his first ready isn’t available.
The fateful play where he was injured is a perfect example.
Trubisky takes the snap and has good protection. He’s surveying to his right but nobody is open. A normal QB would then come back left. Had Trubisky done so, he’d have found Tarik Cohen breaking open over the middle. He easily could’ve unloaded the ball before Anthony Barr (#55) would’ve been able to get there. Instead, Trubisky bails out of the pocket and tries to scramble. The Vikings defense swarms him and everybody knows what happens after that.
It’s decisions like this where people wonder if the kid is ready to grasp what it means to play quarterback in the NFL. Defenses are fast and they adjust quickly. He got away with scrambling last year, but those opportunities are much fewer this season. Now that he’s been asked to sit back and throw the ball, the results are mixed. Esiason may have gone a little far in his declaration that Daniel is better for the offense, but his overall point has validity.
