Mitch Trubisky is a good quarterback. He is. Whether you like it or not, this is a fact. He went 11-3 in 2018 despite playing in a brand new offense with an assortment of receivers he’d never logged a snap with before. He accounted for 27 touchdowns, a 95.4 passer rating, made the Pro Bowl as an alternate. People may try to bend the truth to suit their agenda, but it doesn’t change reality. Trubisky was good in 2018.
Was he perfect? No. He made a number of bad decisions that led to bad plays. Young QBs tend to do that. His goal is to continue finding ways to limit them as much as possible. People are so desperate for big stats though that it’s easy to miss what makes Trubisky such a good quarterback already. It gets overshadowed at times because of the team he plays on.
There is one aspect of his game that doesn’t get enough credit. Probably because it isn’t flashy. That doesn’t make it less important. Trubisky showcased it a lot over the final stretch of the season. It demonstrated not only his maturity as a player, but also the calm he can play with.
Mitch Trubisky is tremendous when it comes to “killing” games
Obviously, when people talk about great quarterbacks, they tend to refer to their ability to lead comebacks. Great rallies from deep deficits that showcase their passing mastery. One of the things that so often gets taken for granted is the ability of a quarterback to protect leads. A knack for getting his team ahead on the board and then conducting efficient, time-consuming drives to limit the opposition’s hope for a rally of their own.
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Tom Brady has 35 comebacks in his long NFL career, but not enough people recognize his true greatness. He is the master of the four-minute offense. That is getting the lead and then keeping it late just when the other team starts to think they have a chance. Nobody does it better than him.
Trubisky has that same quality and it showed up a lot in 2018.
The two best examples actually came during the final two games of the season against the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings.
In San Francisco, the Bears clung to a 14-9 lead. The defense had just pulled off an interception to turn away a strong 49ers drive. There was 7:37 left on the clock. Trubisky needed to give them a rest. Here’s how the drive transpired for him:
- Pass for 12 yards
- Pass for 4 yards
- Pass for 1 yard
- Scramble for 7 yards (draws unnecessary roughness penalty)
- Pass for 4 yards
- QB sneak for 2 yards and first down
- Run
- Scramble for 3 yards
- Pass for 6 yards
- Run
- Run
- Pass for 10 yards (Allen Robinson fumbles)
Trubisky connected on every single pass on that drive while also running for two key first downs. The Bears chewed four minutes and 37 seconds off the clock. San Francisco had been forced to burn all three of their timeouts. With the defense rested and no way to stop the clock, the 49ers failed in their final bid to score. Chicago won 14-9.
Impressive as that was though, Trubisky topped himself the next week.
The season finale in Minnesota had so much more at stake. It was in a building the Bears had won since 2011. The Vikings were playing for a chance to make the playoffs. Chicago already had their ticket and little left to play for. Yet they still came out firing. However, by the end of the 3rd quarter, the game had begun to tighten. Minnesota scored a touchdown to narrow the deficit to 13-10. It felt like they were finally taking control of the game.
Then Trubisky happened:
- Pass incomplete
- Pass for 16 yards
- Run
- Pass for no gain
- Defensive penalty
- Run
- Run
- Pass for 9 yards
- Run
- Pass for 8 yards
- Run
- Pass for 9 yards
- Run
- Run (TD)
Against one of the best defenses in the NFL and in their own building, Trubisky threw for three critical first downs on that drive, then selflessly handed the ball off twice for the score that put the game away. He also completed the two-point conversion attempt to extend the lead even further.
This goes to show how composed Trubisky can keep himself in pressure situations. He has a finger firmly on the pulse of his team. Whenever they’ve needed a drive, he almost always delivered. Sure his numbers weren’t pretty at times, but this is the kind of quarterback this team needs. It’s much better to have one who performs under duress than one who puts up meaningless stats.
