Fourth down mastery
Clutch factor is always something teams discuss about a quarterback. Often the biggest measuring stick is how that man performs in the fourth quarter. Does he begin to wilt under the pressure or does his game step up a notch? Often an even better way to measure that is how the man performs on fourth down in the fourth quarter. It doesn’t get much higher stakes than that.
Aaron Rodgers may be one of the most unkillable quarterbacks when it comes to fourth down. Here the Cardinals have the Packers in 4th & 20. There is 55 seconds left. The game is over. Not for Rodgers though. He moves out to his left, sets his feet and fires a dead on 60-yard pass to a backup receiver to keep the game alive. Green Bay ended up scoring a touchdown to force overtime.
Is Mitch Trubisky the same way? Turns out he is. The perfect example was his final drive against Pittsburgh where he converted not one, not two but three fourth downs. None was more impressive than the first. Still in their own territory and needing a touchdown to win, North Carolina faced 4th & 7. Trubisky gets the snap and sees pressure come up the middle right in his face. Unable to step up, he fires the pass between two defenders to a falling down receiver for the first down.
The Tar Heels wound up scoring the winning touchdown on that drive. It was the first legitimate sign that Trubisky was more than a system quarterback. He had poise. He had moxie. The moment wasn’t too big for him.
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Isn’t this what the Bears have been looking for going on four decades?
