The persistent narrative coming out of the Green Bay Packers lose was that Mitch Trubisky still can’t go through his reads. Too often he stayed locked in on one target (most often Allen Robinson) and didn’t come off it until he was pressured and forced to scramble or take a sack. Admittedly there were moments of this in the game. Particularly the biggest one when Trubisky was staring down a corner route by Robinson to the end zone that Green Bay read all the way and intercepted.
It was an ugly play. However, it also fed into a false reality. Trubisky does hang on certain receivers a little too long at times, but that doesn’t mean it’s all he does. If people watch him the fact is the quarterback does go through his reads and has done so successfully a number of times. He understands that part of the job fairly well. No, his issue centers around something directly tied to that process. Something quarterbacks absolutely need for success.
Field vision.
Experts talk about this all the time with quarterbacks. For fans who aren’t entirely clued in on what that means, here’s a description from Matt Miller of Bleacher Report to help clarify.
“Seeing the field is the second-most important trait when scouting quarterbacks. If you can see the field and recognize your open receivers—and then use Trait No. 1 to get the ball there—you’ll live as an NFL quarterback.
When I look at elite NFL players—the basis of what we’re looking for in scouting prospects—I see Tom Brady reading the middle of the field and hitting option routes with impeccable timing. I see Peyton Manning reading coverage better than anyone in the game and adjusting his offense to threaten the defense. I see Colin Kaepernick reading the edge and knowing when to run and when to pass. That’s all vision.”
It is this trait that can help us trace to where Trubisky has the bulk of his problems.
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Mitch Trubisky doesn’t always trust his eyes
Let’s take a look at what we’re talking about. Here is a play from the first quarter against Green Bay. It’s 3rd and 5. Anthony Miller goes in motion to the right. This puts three Bears out on the right side against two Packers defenders. Then for good measure, Tarik Cohen leaks out of the backfield to that side as well, overloading the side. It’s a well-designed play. Trubisky looks that way and sees it develop. However, he doesn’t unload the ball right away to Cohen.
He waits a couple seconds too long, gets pressured and only then fires the pass. By that point, the Packers defenders had enough time to rally to the ball to prevent any sort of meaningful gain.
Had Trubisky fired the pass on time, Cohen would’ve gotten it just as Allen Robinson was throwing a nice downfield block, almost guaranteeing a first down.
Here’s another example. It’s 3rd and 1 in the third quarter. Trubisky runs a runs a play fake to David Montgomery with Robinson and Adam Shaheen stacked to the left. Robinson runs his route up, leaving Shaheen one-on-one with a defensive back. Trubisky is looking that way from the beginning. If he unloads it immediately and on target, that’s another easy first down. Again though, he doesn’t trust his eyes. He waits to make sure, gets pressured and finally sacked.
Keep in mind these types of plays should normally be gimmes for a quarterback. If Trubisky is struggling with those, one can imagine how he handles the throws over the middle where the vision can get clouded by so many jerseys flying around. This holds true from last year. All told, Trubisky threw 61 passes beyond five yards between the numbers in 2018. He completed just 30 of those passes for two touchdowns and six interceptions.
In the opener? He was just 1-of-5 in that area.
Going through progressions isn’t the problem for Mitch Trubisky. It’s that when he moves from one progression to the next, his eyes don’t always recognize if the guy is open or not until it’s far too late. This leads to hitches, holding the ball, unnecessary scrambling, and bad throws into crowded coverage. Until his processor speeds up, the best thing the Bears can do is work to give him as many easy reads as possible. His is done with play action and moving pockets.
Maybe not what Nagy and the coaches had hoped for in Year 2 of this offense, but it’s what they have.
