It’s no shock that most experts aren’t jumping on the Mitch Trubisky bandwagon. Contrary to popular myth, none of them were doing so for Jared Goff at this time last year either. They were cautiously optimistic that maybe, just maybe Sean McVay could turn him into a serviceable quarterback. Then Goff went to the Pro Bowl after throwing 28 touchdowns. Why can’t Trubisky do the same?
He just can’t okay! That’s basically the argument against him at this point. He wasn’t overly good as a rookie so this means he’ll likely be terrible the rest of his career. How many times has that sort of thinking been proven flawed? The fact of the matter is nobody knows what Trubisky is going to be yet. He hasn’t played long enough.
He’s only started 25 total games dating back to college. That’s not a big enough slice of pie to evaluate. To base an opinion on what was seen last year is supreme folly. Trubisky was raw. His coaching was awful and his supporting cast was laughably thin in the passing game. Even a coach who went against him last year recognized how ill-equipped he was.
The real Mitch Trubisky should show up in 2018, for better or worse
Mike Sando of ESPN conducted a massive survey to help determine the power rankings of every quarterback in the NFL of note. He separated them into tiers from #1 being the best to #4 being the worst or most unproven. One can guess which tier Trubisky ended up in. Unsurprisingly it was a lukewarm evaluation, with an expression of fear about him using (surprise, surprise) his brief work in college and as a rookie.
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However, Sando spoke to a defensive coordinator that went against Trubisky last season. His assessment was frank, straightforward, and intrigued.
“I like Trubisky,” a defensive coordinator said. “I think that kid has a shot to be decent. He is athletic, he’s got a big arm, he has pretty good accuracy. When we played him, they had zero receivers. He was playing with a junior-high cast.”
It would not even be contested if somebody said 2017 featured the worst Bears receiving corps in decades. When Kendall Wright, Josh Bellamy, and Dontrelle Inman are your three top guys, something is wrong. Keep in mind all three of those men were #4 guys at most in 2016 with their respective teams. Asking Trubisky to make a viable passing offense out of that is like asking somebody to get a perfect score on Pac-Man.
Technically it’s possible, but it’s not going to happen. Now things are different. Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Anthony Miller, and Trey Burton are in town. Matt Nagy brings an actually proven offense with him from Kansas City. For the first time, Trubisky isn’t being asked to do it all himself. He has help. Even the greatest quarterbacks couldn’t become great without support around them.
Let him play under the right conditions before passing a final judgment on him.
