Mitch Trubisky needs all the motivation he can get going into these next couple of months. They could be the defining ones of his professional football career. After such a promising high point in 2018, his future is suddenly in doubt after a frustrating 2019. One he openly admitted was well below his standards during his first appearance before the media on Friday.
That is why he understood when the Chicago Bears traded for Nick Foles and declined his 5th-year option. They were business decisions. Trubisky had three years to seize control of the QB job and hasn’t done it. Now this could be his last chance and by the sound of it, he’s working harder than ever to take advantage. One interesting part of that interview was the background.
Trubisky held the virtual call from his home. On the wall behind him was a quote from former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt. Upon reading it, there is no question that the quarterback chose it deliberately.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Did Mitch Trubisky send a deliberate message with that?
It makes one wonder if Trubisky chose to hold his interview in that spot on purpose. Like he was sending a subtle message to the critics or “haters” that he has no intention of going down without a fight. The quote itself comes from a speech called “Citizenship In a Republic.” Roosevelt made it during a trip to Paris in 1910. Many consider it the best speech he ever made.
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It’s certainly one that has resonated throughout the decades since. Especially in the sports world. Nelson Mandela gave it to the South African rugby team right before they won the rugby World Cup in 1995. It was also a personal motto of former Chicago Cubs infielder Mark DeRosa. He famously read it to his Washington Nationals teammates before a do-or-die playoff game against St. Louis in 2012. They won the game.
Trubisky is putting himself in a clear mindset. It is better to give it everything he has and fail than not even bother trying. That is why he isn’t sweating the Foles addition. He fully intends to make sure the Bears job remains his when the dust settles in August.
It would be rather lovely if he actually chose that quote intentionally as a jab at the media too. Then again there is no way to ever know if that is true.