Post by JABF on Jan 31, 2019 9:06:12 GMT -6
670thescore.radio.com/chicago-bears-2019-offseason-outlook-quarterback-mitchell-trubisky
Bears Offseason Outlook: Quarterback
After showcasing progress in 2018, what's next for Mitchell Trubisky?
CHRIS EMMA
2018 review
Trubisky's second season began slowly, as he had just two touchdowns and three interceptions through three games and took responsibility for the Bears' season-opening loss to the Packers, a contest in which he felt his late-game mindset was poor.
But Trubisky took off during the Bears' blowout win against the Buccaneers on Sept. 30, completing 19 of 26 passes for 354 yards and six touchdowns. He continued to build on that performance in a positive manner, with some inconsistent games mixed in.
Trubisky was 289-of-434 for 3,223 yards, 24 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 14 regular-season games, over which the Bears went 11-3.
"He conquered the next-play mentality," Nagy said of Trubisky during the Bears' seasoning-end press conference. "He conquered that. He conquered the steps of 101 progressions. By the end of the year, he was reading it one-two-three (progressions), run. That, he conquered. Now, I think level two next year is going to be him really recognizing pre-snap what he's about to see from these defenses.
"Last year, he was so focused in on, 'What we do we do on offense? Hell, I've never run this offense before. What does that mean?' Now, he knows it all and can take that next step of figuring out, 'OK, here they come. They got a blitz, cover-0. Now, I know what to do, what to check to, I know the protections, all of that.' That's going to be the big one for him."
The lasting image of Trubisky's campaign came in the Bears' loss to the Eagles in the wild-card round on Jan. 6. Trubisky led a go-ahead six-play, 80-yard touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter to put the Bears ahead. With the Bears trailing 16-15 and only 56 seconds remaining, Trubisky then led Chicago to 33 yards across five plays to set up kicker Cody Parkey for a potential game-winning 43-yard field goal.
Parkey missed it, rendering Trubisky's work not enough.
2019 outlook
Will he perform more consistently next season?
Nagy has often reminded that Trubisky was experiencing a big learning curve in his first year in a new offense. Beyond that, the success of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes -- the likely MVP who also was a first-round pick in 2017 and tutored by Nagy for one season in Kansas City -- sometimes shined an unfair shadow of skepticism over Trubisky. In 2019, Trubisky and the Bears would love to see the kind of Nintendo numbers that Mahomes posted. A more realistic expectation is that Trubisky consistently is the reason why the Bears are winning games next season. With all 11 starters returning on offense and the same head coach, offensive coordinator and position coach in place, Trubisky will have every opportunity to continue his development and take his next big step in 2019.
That's a fair assessment. Here's the bottom line for me. The latter half of the season I saw Trubisky giving us glimpses of his ceiling in the NFL. It looked mighty good to me. He is a young guy on the way up. He will be plenty good enough to take the Bears to a Super Bowl if the rest of the team can also be solid. He doesn't have to be Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers or (fill in the blank here), to be a rock solid franchise QB for the Bears. Just be himself, and improve his game steadily - that's all we need to happen here. The Bears organization on their part will need to keep Mitch surrounded with quality players (OL, receivers & a running game) that will allow him to play well. I think you've mentioned it riczaj01 that Mahomes will come back down to earth if he isn't playing with the great surrounding talent he has had this season (I believe that is true too).
We are having a great opportunity as fans to see (finally see) a solid Bears franchise QB being developed here in Chicago. That's like a unicorn sighting - a solid young QB surrounded with good O talent and great coaching - in Chicago no less. That just doesn't happen here. We can just sit back as fans and enjoy watching Mitch for the next several years here. It feels pretty good right now to be a Bears fan.