Chicago Bears: Mitch Trubisky struggling to find his footing

Following another lopsided loss on Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chicago Bears continue to look overmatched on offense. Much of that is due to the uneven play of Mitch Trubisky, who is hardly showing flashes of being a franchise quarterback early on.

The Chicago Bears find themselves in familiar territory after their latest debacle, a 31-3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. At 3-8, the Bears continue to regress as a collective unit. This is most notable on offense, where scoring has come at a premium for much of this season.

After showing significant improvement on offense against Detroit, the Bears could only muster 3 points against the Eagles on Sunday: a stagnant offensive showing, especially from Mitch Trubisky.

More from Da Windy City

• Juan Soto appears headed to the Yankees which is not a big blow Chicago Cubs offseason
• 3 takeaways from Chicago Blackhawks shootout loss to Nashville
• Chicago Cubs in the middle of chaos that is Shohei Ohtani’s free agency
• The Chicago Cubs are on a roller coaster of emotions chasing Shohei Ohtani
• Chicago Bears quietly compiling list of head coaching candidates

Trubisky is supposed to be the Bears’ franchise quarterback for the next decade. While growing pains are expected for the rookie signal caller, his dismal showing on Sunday is a glaring let-down.

Glaring, in the sense that Trubisky was coming off two of his best passing performances as a pro against division rivals, Green Bay and Detroit, prior to throwing two gut-wrenching interceptions against the Eagles.

Granted, the Eagles have an exceptional defense that routinely makes life difficult for even the most experienced quarterbacks out there. Still, with that being said, the same self-inflicted problems that have plagued Trubisky since he took over as the starter beginning Week 5 haven’t come close to diminishing.

Forget about the lack of viable receiving threats. Yes, injuries to a few prominent position players on offense early on have contributed to Trubisky’s shaky season to date, along with the baffling play-calling by offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains on a weekly basis.

Unfortunately, those are obvious problems outside of Trubisky’s control. The self-inflicted problems, most notably poor pocket awareness and inconsistent throwing accuracy, are more worrisome.

For being the second-overall pick, Trubisky’s lack of pocket awareness at the NFL level is troubling. Despite taking snaps under a solid offensive line filled with former Pro Bowlers and being afforded plenty of time to survey the field, Trubisky has a difficult time sensing incoming pressure within the pocket, resulting in him taking way too many ill-advised sacks.

Furthermore, the trademark to Trubisky’s game coming out of college—his accuracy throwing the football—has been up and down all season long. Trubisky is routinely making erratic throws in games and misfiring to open receivers on throws he used to make in his sleep while playing at North Carolina.

Trubisky appears too hesitant while scanning the field for someone to throw to. During games, he’ll often forget that he’s a mobile quarterback who can run away from oncoming defenders. It’s as if he’s being pressured by the coaching staff to become strictly a pocket passer at times, thus being forced to play away from his strengths as a dual-threat quarterback.

Next: Tarik Cohen needs a larger role

Despite Trubisky’s first year struggles, there is still plenty of hope for him to become a successful franchise quarterback, even if his performance so far portrays the opposite. After all, plenty of promising quarterbacks have struggled as rookies, only to thrive later on in their careers.

Hopefully, Trubisky’s struggles early on will become nothing more than a side-note when his career with the Chicago Bears is all said and done.