Chicago Bears: Three reasons to be excited after big win over Bucs
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Reason #1: Mitch Trubisky’s six touchdown day
There were early struggles for the young Bears quarterback this season. Fans expected an early breakout in Trubisky’s second year, possibly because other young NFL quarterbacks like Jared Goff and Carson Wentz improved dramatically in their second year. With expectations so high for Trubisky coming into this season, his shaky start had a lot of fans and analysts worried.
Trubisky appeared to have real trouble reading NFL defenses, as well as throwing deep to his left. These early issues concerned a lot of people and led to some talk that Trubisky may have been a draft bust. Bears GM Ryan Pace traded up in the 2017 NFL Draft to select the quarterback second overall.
One half.
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 30, 2018
5 TDs.
That's our QB.
🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/ozsEr4sG9N
It hasn’t helped that two other quarterbacks from that draft class have excelled with their teams. DeShaun Watson appears to be the piece the Houston Texans will build around for the future, and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes broke an NFL record in his first three starts with 13 touchdowns. Fans wondered if Pace may have missed out on better quarterback talent to select Trubisky.
The young Bears quarterback showed on Sunday that he still has a lot of potential to be a great leader for his team. Trubisky made several accurate deep throws in this game, including throws to his left. On the first drive of the game, he hit tight end Trey Burton for a 39-yard touchdown down the sideline.
THIS is what we're talkin' about!@Mtrubisky10 hits @TreyBurton8 for a 39-yard TD on the opening drive of #TBvsCHI. https://t.co/TC9Asz6700
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 30, 2018
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Later in the first quarter, Trubisky hit wide receiver Allen Robinson in the back of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown. It was a perfect throw to Trubisky’s left that only Robinson could get to. It was also Robinson’s first touchdown as a member of the Bears.
Trubisky also made another perfect touchdown throw to wide receiver Josh Bellamy in the second quarter. it was another throw to the left.
The Bears went into the half up 38-3, and Trubisky had five touchdown passes in what was easily his best start of the season. Trubisky tacked on one more touchdown in the second half and led the team to a dominating win.
It’s so encouraging to see Trubisky excel as he did. While the Bucs don’t have a good defense, Trubisky wasn’t missing open receivers as he had in weeks past.
There’s still a lot of questions surrounding how Trubisky will progress and how quickly he can get better at reading defenses. For now, a lot of those concerns from early in the season can be put aside a little bit as we watch Trubisky learn and hopefully improve each week of the season.