Chicago Bears: Time for fans to believe in Mitchell Trubisky again
By Ryan Fedrau
After two weeks of football, Chicago Bears fans are torn on quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. It’s time for fans to take that leap of faith and believe in Trubisky again.
Since the start of the 2017 NFL seasons, the Chicago Bears fans have been torn on Mitchell Trubisky. Fans booed him at a Chicago Bulls‘ game, he was compared to Deshaun Watson’s fast start in the NFL, Trubisky was slow on offense, etc. The 2017 Bears offense was terrible. John Fox wasn’t the right guy for Trubisky.
In 2018, Matt Nagy is hired, the Bears improve tremendously on offense. This issue is, Patrick Mahomes throws 50 touchdowns and Deshaun Watson makes another great step in his progression as an NFL quarterback.
Trubisky, the second-overall pick in 2017, has been blamed for the success of others. Mahomes and Watson were put in better situations than Trubisky was. He’s 26-years-old and he’s been blamed more than Jay Cutler was over his tenure in Chicago.
It’s easier to compare Trubisky to Watson, as their numbers are very similar. Both quarterbacks are 21-10 in their last 31-games as a starter, they’re close in touchdowns and interceptions in those 31-games. Trubisky has been very underrated, mostly because he simply struggled to put points up after his injury against the Vikings.
After a rough 2019 season, fans were calling for Trubisky’s head. He has since improved over the offseason and beat Nick Foles in a quarterback competition, but fans still aren’t sold.
Trubisky has played great for four quarters and has struggled with the other four. He was great in the second half against the Lions (mostly the fourth quarter), and he was great in the first half against the Giants. The offense struggled to move the ball any further during the four other quarters, but it’s not all on Trubisky, what-so-ever.
Why should fans believe in Trubisky again? Wouldn’t you be crazy to buy into a guy who struggled last year, throwing 17-touchdowns in 15-games, while finishing 8-7 as a starter? No, you wouldn’t be crazy.
The argument that fans have made, which is annoying, is that Trubisky hasn’t played anyone good yet, so don’t buy-in. Well, Trubisky has beaten the two teams that he’s played so far. He has played well at times, he’s struggled in others.
A few of the struggles have come off of poor play from the others around him. Trubisky should have had three-touchdowns last week, he should have had just one interception, and Matt Nagy shouldn’t have played too preventive on offense and defense in the second half.
Chicago threw the ball eight times in the second half against the Giants. Don’t blame Trubisky, blame Coach Nagy for thinking the game was over when it was 17-0 at the half.
So, fans need to buy in for one reason, Trubisky is improving and his haters don’t want to admit it. He’s thrown five touchdowns in two games to start the season. That is tied for third-best in the league. He’s on pace for 40-touchdowns, which he won’t hit, but it’s a good start.
It’s the first-time in Trubisky’s career where he’s started off 2-0, along with the number of touchdowns he has in his first two games. The five-touchdowns is a career-high for him.
Weeks one and two of the 2020 NFL season are better than Weeks one and two of his Pro Bowl 2018 season. It’ll take a few more weeks for more fans to get on board, but if he can continue to score on offense, he’ll gain the support from the city again.
We’re all on this Bears’ ship. The captain of the ship is Mitchell Trubisky. Instead of praying this ship will sink, believe in Trubisky again and great things will happen. He is improving, the offense is getting better, and this team will be very dangerous down the stretch.